Held Down by the Past
by RkieFan
Summary: Jill Danko's attempts to help a co-worker whose present too closely mirrors her own troubled past meets with disastrous results.
1. Chapter 1

Held Down by the Past

**Disclaimers: The characters are the property of Spelling/Goldberg Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended. The story is the property of the author and her often very twisted imagination.**

**Title: Held Down by the Past – Chapter 1**

**Summary: A shell-shocked Jill tries to come to terms with the tragic consequences of attempting to help a friend in trouble.**

**Author's Notes: First off, I have to thank Regina Gabrielle. She hates it when I call her my muse for my Mike and Jill stories, but sometimes I feel that without her horrifying stories of her past, I'd have nothing to write about. This story comes back to one basic theme: safety. Regina has told me on several occasions that when she escaped her ex-boyfriend, all she wanted was to feel safe. She said that it took several years for her to completely believe that she was safe. That's what this story all boils down to.**

**The second thing is trying to help someone when no one had been there to help you. That's the second theme of this story.**

**This story is rated M for some future chapters, which are marked accordingly. **

Chapter 1

"Why couldn't you have just butted out? I didn't want to hurt her! I didn't want to hurt any of them!"

Jill Danko watched the irate man pacing back and forth from her vantage point on the living room sofa. This same tirade had been going on for the past six hours and it showed no signs of letting up anytime soon. The police as well as a tactical team had been in place trying to talk the man into letting his hostage go, but so far, he was refusing.

Jill was tired. She hadn't slept more than an hour or two a night in the two weeks since this nightmare had started. For almost three days after it had happened, she hadn't uttered a word at all. Lt. Ryker and one of the detectives had told her that they'd found her huddled in the bathtub when they found the bodies of the victims, but she didn't remember that. She just remembered screams and gunshots. Everything after that was a total blank.

Jill jumped when the phone rang. The man glared at her with eyes that were black with rage. "If you don't answer it, Bobby, they're going to come in here," she warned him.

He angrily stomped over and snatched the phone off of the kitchen wall. "What?" He shouted into it.

"Mr. Sanchez, this is Lt. Ryker."

"I told you people to stop calling me!"

"Sanchez, let me talk to Mrs. Danko. I want to make sure that she's okay."

"I haven't hurt her."

"Then, let me talk to her. You're going to have to work with me here, Sanchez. Let me talk to her," Ryker repeated.

"The cop on the phone wants to talk to you," Bobby Sanchez snarled as he held the receiver out toward Jill.

Jill walked over to the phone on legs that were barely holding her up. "Hello?" She answered in a hoarse voice.

"Mrs. Danko, this is Lt. Ryker. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. Can I talk to Mike?" She looked over at Bobby, who was once again pacing the floor, waving a gun around.

"Keep it short, Danko," Ryker told Mike, as he held the receiver of the field phone out toward him.

"Baby, are you okay?" Mike asked.

"Mike, get me out of here. He's going to kill me," she said as she fought back tears of fear and anger.

"Baby, we're working on it," he tried to assure her.

"Hang up!" Bobby shouted. "You got proof that she's all right. Give me the damn phone!"

Mike was about to say something when the line went dead. "He took the phone away from her," he said as he looked at his boss. "How are we going to get her out of there? He's been holding her for six hours now!"

"We're working on it, Officer Danko," Mike turned toward the voice. The man was dressed completely in black. His name tag on his uniform said 'Daniels' and he was the head of the tactical unit, which had been trained to respond in hostage situations.

"You're 'working on it?' From what I've seen, all you and your men have been doing since you got here is sitting around with your thumbs up your ass!"

"Officer Danko, I understand how you feel. But, if we storm the apartment, Sanchez is going to kill your wife."

"If you don't do something, he's going to kill her anyway!" Mike reminded them. "Thanks to the damn press, he knows he left a witness to his wife and her family's murders."

Back in the apartment, Bobby walked over to the what-knot shelf where Jill had hers' and Mike's mementos on display, including several photographs of the two of them. "I didn't want it to be like this," he turned toward her. "I liked you. I even liked Officer Mike, even though he's a cop. He's a good guy. Why did you tell Tina to leave me?"

"I didn't tell her to leave you, Bobby. The only thing I told her was that she shouldn't stay with you if you were hurting her. She didn't deserve that. She made the decision to leave."

"But, you were helping her! You were at my house that day! The papers said that you heard her scream out my name!"

"I don't remember any of that," she stammered.

"How can you not remember? It was in the fucking newspaper!"

"Bobby, I was in shock. I still am. I remember being at the house, but that's all that I remember. I swear to it."

"I wasn't hurting her," he paced a couple of feet in front of her. "The Bible says that wives should cleave to their husbands. She was supposed to honor me. You know about that. You're married."

"Mike doesn't hit me."

"Never?"

"No."

"The Bible says that I have the right to keep my wife in line. My old man did it, and so did my grandfather and all of my uncles."

"My uncles were that way, too, Bobby, but it doesn't mean that it's right."

"Officer Mike doesn't hit you?" He asked again, his expression one of disbelief.

"No," Jill repeated, although she remembered early on when she'd tried to goad him into striking her. Before Mike, physical violence was all she'd ever known. Instead of lashing out at her, Mike would just walk away from her. "Bobby, I'm sorry about all of this. Please just let me go."

"I can't let you go. If I walk out of that door, they're going to kill me."

"They're not going to kill you."

"How do you know that? I killed six people. If I'd found you, it would've been seven," he said as Jill visibly shuddered. "You were a witness. You shouldn't have gone to my house."

"Mike tried to tell me that, too."

"Then why didn't you listen to him? Don't you read the Bible? Honor your husband. It's one of the commandments."

"I think you need to re-read your Bible," Jill stared at him defiantly.

"Don't backtalk me!" He screamed at her as the phone rang again. "Son of a bitch! Answer it and tell that lieutenant to leave me alone!"

Jill walked over and picked up the phone. "Lieutenant, he wants you to stop calling here."

"Mrs. Danko, we're trying to keep communications open with him. We want this to end."

"And, you think that I don't? He's a ticking time bomb."

"Please put him on the phone."

"He wants to talk to you," Jill looked at her captor.

"Lieutenant, leave us alone," Bobby snapped when he took the phone.

"Bobby, we want to end this. Is there anybody you want to talk to?"

"Anybody? Yeah, bring my mother down here. I want to talk to my mother."

"Bobby . . . "

"You asked me who I want to talk to, Lieutenant, and I told you. Bring my mother down here and I'll let Mrs. Danko go."

"Let me see what I can do," Ryker sighed as he ended the call. "He wants to talk to his mother."

"His mother? She's the one who started this whole mess," Terry said as he looked at his boss.

"I know that, Webster, but right now she's all that we have. You and Gillis go to the jail and get her."

Back in the apartment, Jill wondered if Bobby Sanchez was really going to let her go if he was able to talk to his mother. "Are you really going to let me go?" She asked.

"I told that cop that I would. I'm a man of my word."

Jill knew that much to be true. In many conversations with Tina, her friend had told her over and over that Bobby had told her that he'd kill her if she ever left him. Jill had just wanted to help her because no one had been there to help her when she needed it. Trap and the bikers had tried, but they'd been as trapped as she had been.

For the next hour, things remained in a standoff state. Terry had radioed in to Lt. Ryker that he and Willie had Sanchez's mother and were on their way to the apartment with her. Ryker had relayed that information to Bobby Sanchez, but at the moment, all was quiet.

"What if Sanchez doesn't let Jill go after he talks to his mother?" Mike asked.

"Then, we'll have no choice but to go in," Daniels told him.

"It's only taken you eight hours to decide this?"

"We can't let this go on indefinitely, Officer Danko."

Just then, Terry pulled his patrol car into the complex and parked. Willie got out and opened the back door, removing a handcuffed woman in her mid-50's. "Did you have any trouble getting her out?" Ryker asked.

"No, sir. We told her that we needed her for a while."

"Mrs. Sanchez, your son is holding Jill Danko hostage. He's requested to talk to you before he lets her go," Ryker told her as he dialed the apartment number and held the phone toward her.

"Uncuff me," she asked in a heavy Spanish accent.

"Not a chance," Ryker told her as the phone started to ring.

Mike looked up the stairs to where several of Daniels' men were stationed outside of the apartment. They'd been there since this had all begun that morning. He knew they'd move in at the first word from their commander. One part of his brain wanted them to go in, but the other part was scared for Jill's safety.

Inside of the apartment, the phone began to ring. "Get it," Bobby ordered Jill.

Jill walked over to the phone. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Danko, this is Lt. Ryker. Tell Sanchez that we have his mother on the phone."

"Bobby, your mother's on the phone," Jill told him.

"Mama?" Bobby whispered into the phone.

"Bobby, they told me that you wanted to talk to me," she said in Spanish.

Mike's ears perked at the use of Spanish. "Mrs. Sanchez, speak English," Ryker warned her as Mike tried to get his attention. "What is it, Danko?"

"Lieutenant, I know Spanish. I can let you know what she's saying."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. All she's said so far is we told him that he wanted to talk to her."

"Get closer so that you can translate if we need you to. Let us know if she says anything we need to be concerned about."

"What are you doing, Roberto?" Mrs. Sanchez asked.

"Mama, she's the one who told the police that it was me that shot Tina and her brothers."

"Then, you know what you have to do. Kill her."

"Get in there!" Mike shouted. "She just told Sanchez to kill Jill!"

Everything after that was total chaos. Mrs. Sanchez was brought to the ground as Ryker dropped the phone. Inside of the apartment, gunshots rang out as the tactical team burst into the apartment.

Ryker tried to stop Mike as he raced up the stairs to the apartment. "Danko!" Ryker shouted as he ran after him. "Get her out of here!" He shouted as Terry and Willie wrenched Mrs. Sanchez to her feet and took her back to the patrol car before they too ran up the stairs to the apartment.

Inside of the apartment, Jill was huddled on the floor by the couch with her arms over her head as the room suddenly filled with police officers. "He's dead," she heard one of the officers announce as more cops entered the room.

"Jill!" She heard Mike's voice, but she was too afraid to look up. "Jill!" His already pounding heart began pounding more loudly at the sight of his wife covered in blood. "Baby, are you okay?"

"The suspect's dead, Officer Danko. He shot himself as we were entering the apartment."

Mike was carefully looking Jill over for injuries as she stared past him to where the tactical team was standing over Sanchez. "Baby, don't look at him," he put his finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She didn't say anything, except to burst into deep, gulping sobs as Mike pulled her against him. "You're okay now. You're safe now."

As Mike held her tightly, she began to wonder if she truly was safe. For a long time he'd made her feel that way, but since moving back in with him, that feeling had begun to slip away. She wanted to regain that feeling of safety. She felt as if she'd go insane without it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimers: Still don't own 'The Rookies' and never will.**

**Summary: Jill befriends a co-worker, but soon discovers that her new friends present too closely resembles her own past. **

**In the first season episode 'Wheel of Death,' we all saw how easily Jill can be crushed by the suffering of someone that she becomes too close to. In that case, it was a small boy whose father was on the run and he needed a bone marrow transplant. **

Chapter 2

_Six weeks earlier_

It was a warm fall night. Jill had only been living with Mike again for a few weeks and was still in the process of getting used to being with him on a daily basis. Her feelings of safety and security were slowly returning, but she still had moments where she felt that safety net being pulled out from under her.

She was now the wife of a police officer, and she still wasn't entirely sure that she liked this new life. Like the Army, there were too many rules that she didn't know anything about. As she'd told Mike when they were dating, she didn't like it when she didn't know the rules of something.

The constant shift changes were another part of this new life that she didn't care for. They always seemed to be working opposite shifts since they'd reunited and she felt as if they never saw each other. At the moment she was lying awake waiting for him to return home from working the evening shift. No matter how many times he assured her that he'd be fine, she couldn't close her eyes until she heard him walk through that door.

She knew that he'd be happy that she waited up for him. They'd each talk about their day for a while before going to sleep. Depending on how tired he was, maybe they'd make love. She found herself hoping that he wasn't too tired tonight. Tonight she found herself needing that reassurance that he truly loved her.

She looked at the clock by the bed when she heard the familiar sound of Mike's key in the front door. "Hi," he smiled when he walked into the bedroom and saw her lying awake, waiting for him.

"Hi," she answered back as he sat down on the bed and kissed her as she wrapped her arms around him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just missed you," she smiled as she pulled away from him.

"I missed you, too. How was your day?" He asked as he pulled off his shoes.

"Busy. I met a new nurse today. Her husband was stationed at Ft. Bragg. We spent our entire lunch hour complaining about the army," she grinned at her husband.

"So, did her old man just get back from 'Nam?"

"Yeah, a couple of months ago. She's really sweet. Her name is Tina Sanchez and she's invited us to a housewarming party they're having this weekend."

"Wow, you work fast. You just met her and she's already invited us to a party at their house," he teased her.

"She doesn't know anybody except for hers' and her husband's family. She told me that it'd be nice to have somebody there to talk to about work and what it was like being an army wife. We don't have to stay long."

"Jill, it's okay. I was just teasing. Tell her that we accept her invitation," he kissed her on the tip of her nose. "I'm going to go take a shower. I'll be back in a jiffy."

The next morning, Jill was doing rounds when she ran into her new friend, Tina Sanchez. Tina was in her early 20's, with long, dark hair, and huge brown eyes. "Hi, Jill," Tina greeted her. "Please tell me that you talked to your husband about the party. Bobby wants me to have an exact count of how many people are going to be there so there'll be enough food and beer."

Jill thought that was kind of an odd thing to say, but she didn't comment on it. She couldn't, however, ignore the sight of the ace bandage wrapped around her new friends' hand. "What did you do to your hand?"

"Oh, I was helping Bobby move the mattress on our bed and my hand got twisted. It's just a sprain. I iced it down last night and it's already better. So, you didn't answer my question."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I talked to Mike and we'll be there on Saturday."

"Okay, I'll write down the address and the directions for you and give them to you at lunchtime. The party starts at four, but please don't show up early."

Jill didn't say anything more as she went back to work, but some of the things that Tina said gnawed at her as she sat down for lunch with her. "Why can't we come early?" She asked as Tina gave her a puzzled look. "You told me that the party starts at four, but not to come early."

"Oh, Bobby's very . . . regimented, I guess you'd say. He doesn't like people showing up before they're supposed to. I think he gets it from the army. Is your husband like that?" Tina asked as she opened her lunch.

Was she kidding? Terry and Willie dropped by at every moment of the day that they could. Sometimes Jill had the feeling that her husband's friends would move in with them if they could. Mike had never once told her that she couldn't have company over early if they had something planned.

"So, how long have you and Bobby been married?" Jill asked, ignoring the earlier question about Mike.

"Six years, but between his duty stations and two tours in Vietnam, we've only been together for about three."

"He didn't take you with him to his other duty stations?"

"Oh no," Tina shook her head. "Until he got stationed at Bragg, I lived here with my brother and sister-in-law."

"You do know that you could've gone with him?"

"He didn't want me with him. When he went to Germany, he told me that it wouldn't work because I don't speak German. And, when he was in Kansas, he said that there were just too many people who don't like Mexicans. He said that I was better off with my family."

"Didn't you want to be with him? I'm sorry, I'm sure that you probably did . . . "

"Of course, I wanted to be with him. I love him. But, I don't argue with him," she looked down at her sandwich.

'Of course you don't argue with him,' Jill thought to herself. 'He'd probably beat you senseless.' "I don't mean to ask so many questions."

"It's okay. My father also thought he was crazy to dump me off with my brother. After all, I'm a grown woman. But, we're together for good now, and he's happy because he's going to be living near his mother."

"What about your family? Do they live here in Santa Costa?"

"Uh-uh. San Diego. My brothers live here in town. You'll meet them Saturday. You are coming, aren't you?"

"I told you that I was," Jill smiled.

"I'm sorry. It's just that being an army wife and at a new job, I haven't made a lot of lasting friends. Usually, it's just me and Bobby's family when we have get-togethers."

"Your family doesn't attend?"

"I have to get back to work," Tina suddenly announced as she got to her feet. "Oh, here's the address and the directions on how to get to the house."

"Tina?" Jill called out as her new friend turned around. "Should I bring anything?"

"Please don't. Bobby won't like it," she said as she hurried off.

Jill sat at the table for several minutes after Tina had left the room. She remembered back to those hellish five years when she'd lived in the Hollywood Hills with Cleve and Trap. She remembered that it had been Cleve's way or the highway. Actually, there was no highway. Just Cleve's way. Over five years she had endured more than her share of vicious beatings.

Something told her that her new friend was in a similar situation with her husband. She wasn't sure she was anxious to meet Bobby, but she also didn't want to hurt Tina's feeling by backing out of the invitation after she'd been so happy that Jill had accepted it.

"So, I was thinking," Terry said as Mike walked over and took three beers from the refrigerator and doled one out to him and Willie. "How about we go to The Open House Saturday night and hang out for a while?"

"I'd love to," Mike said as he took a swallow of his beer, "but Jill and I have been invited to a housewarming party."

"Really? Anybody we know?" Willie asked.

"No, it's a new co-worker of Jill's. She doesn't know a lot of people yet, so she invited Jill to her house for the party. Her husband just got back from Vietnam a couple of months ago, so I guess Jill figures I might have something in common with the guy. But, I'll take a rain check."

"You've got it," Terry grinned as Jill unlocked the door and entered the apartment. "Hey, Jill."

"Hi, baby," Mike walked over and kissed her.

"Hi," she greeted him as she looked at her husband's two friends. As usual, they were in the apartment with Mike.

"Well, we'd better go," Terry said as he glanced at his watch. "I have a date and need to get cleaned up. We'll see you later."

"Yeah, later," Mike said as he walked them to the door. "They wanted us to go to The Open House Saturday, but I told them that we have plans. Are you okay? You seem a little down."

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked as she sat on the sofa. "If you'd stayed in the army, would you have taken me to your next duty station?"

"Of course, unless it was Korea. That's hardship duty, so I wouldn't have been able to take you. Why are you asking?" He came over and sat next to her.

"Tina was telling me today that her husband didn't take her to Germany because she doesn't speak German, and he didn't take her to Kansas because he felt that there were too many people who are prejudiced against Mexicans."

"So, he took her to Ft. Bragg, in a state full of rednecks?" Mike looked at Jill, as she nodded. "As for Germany, she would've been on the base with Army personnel and they're Americans. That doesn't make sense, Jill, but I was with some guys who also didn't want their wives with them. They all had their reasons, and I wasn't one to question those reasons."

"Do you think he was messing around on her?"

"Jill, I haven't met the guy, and if he was, it isn't any of our business. Did you get the address of the house?" He changed the subject.

"Yeah," she took the slip of paper from her purse. "The party starts at four, but she warned me not to show up early. I'm also not to bring anything because Bobby won't like it."

"She probably wants the house to be spotless, and he probably wants to play host. What're you thinking?" He asked.

"Mike, I think he hits her."

"Why? Because he doesn't want people bringing dishes to a party?"

"No," she shook her head. "She had an ace bandage wrapped around her hand this morning. She said she sprained it helping him move a mattress. But, there were too many red flags popping up when we were talking."

"Baby, people have accidents," he took her hand.

"Mike . . . "

"Shhh," he kissed her. "I'm glad that you're concerned about your friend, but I'm sure that she's fine. As for her old man, while I admit that he sounds a little controlling, there's no law against that."

"So, it was all right for Cleve to treat me like he did?"

"You're twisting my words," he sighed as he rubbed his face.

"No, Mike," she got to her feet. "I'm not twisting anything. You just said that there's no law against a man controlling the woman that he's with. So, if you chose to suddenly start controlling my every move, there wouldn't be a damn thing that I could do to stop you."

She stomped to the bedroom and slammed the door closed behind her. Mike just let her go because he knew that he couldn't reason with her when she got like this. To her somewhat jaundiced reasoning, every woman she saw with a mysterious bruise was a victim of abuse. Mike couldn't convince her of anything different. Everything was black or white. To Jill, nothing was ever shades of gray.

In the bedroom, Jill was sitting on the edge of the bed in silent fury. There were times when she felt that Mike understood how she'd felt during that time with Cleve, but there were other times, like now, when his thinking was as archaic as Cleve's had been. She looked up when she heard a light tap on the door. "Will you throw something at me if I come in?" Mike poked his head in the door.

She shook her head as he walked over and sat down beside her, drawing her close to him. "I'm sorry," he breathed into her hair as he held her. "But, baby, you might be interfering in something that's not any of your business. It's been my experience that if people want help, they'll ask for it."

"Mike, when I was living with Cleve, I was too afraid to ask for help. If I had, I'm sure that one of the bikers would've helped me. I know that you don't understand what it's like to live with an abusive person. I didn't make a move that could possibly alert Cleve that I was up to something. He would've killed me."

"Do you still want to go to this party on Saturday?" He looked at her.

"I can't back out, Mike. Tina was so happy when I told her that we were coming. I can't disappoint her now."

"I just don't want this dredging up a lot of painful memories for you."

"Mike, it already has."

He didn't say anything further as he pulled her closer and held her as she burrowed her head into his chest. He hated times like this when her past tried to pull her away from him. It made him feel helpless when he couldn't assure her that she was safe now. Cleve was never going to hurt her again. He knew that all she ever wanted was to feel safe.

Saturday afternoon, Mike followed the directions that Tina had given Jill to a small frame house in an older neighborhood. There were several vehicles parked near the house, so Mike parked a short distance from the house. He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for Jill, taking her hand as they walked down the street to the house.

There was no doorbell, so Jill knocked loudly on the wooden screen door. It was answered seconds later by a beaming Tina. "Jill, I'm so glad that you could make it," she said as she opened the door for them.

"Tina, this is my husband, Mike," Jill proudly introduced Mike to Tina.

"Hi, Tina," Mike greeted her. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Same here," she continued smiling at them. "Everybody's in the back. Please follow me."

"Christina!" Tina visibly jumped at the loudly booming voice. "Where the hell are you? I told you to bring me a damn beer!"

"He's always impatient," Tina shrugged as they walked through the living room and kitchen to the back door, stopping briefly while Tina grabbed the handle of an ice chest.

"Here, let me help you with that," Mike offered as he bent to pick up the chest.

"No, I've got it," she quickly took the handle from Mike and pulled the ice chest out of the house. "I'm sorry, Bobby. I was answering the door."

"Who are these people?" The stocky man in his late 20's demanded as Tina opened a beer and handed it to him.

"This is my friend Jill and her husband. Jill and I work together. You told me that I could invite her," she said, trying not to sound as frightened as she felt.

Jill's heart was pounding in her chest as she tightened her grip on Mike's hand. To her, this was too much déjà vu for her tastes. She fought a strong urge to flee from the house to the safety of the car.

"Now I remember," Bobby Sanchez stood up, smiling, as he offered his hand to Mike. "I'm Bobby Sanchez, Tina's old man. Christina, don't just stand there. Bring the man a beer."

"I'm sorry," Tina bent down and retrieved a beer from the ice chest.

"Thanks," Mike said, at a loss as to what else to say. "I'm Mike Danko."

"Have a seat," Bobby waved to a vacant lawn chair. "The women are all over there talking about babies and whatever else it is they talk about. Tina, take your friend over there."

"Come on," Tina looked at Jill. "I'll introduce you to my sisters-in-law."

Jill looked at Mike, but he just gave her a look that told her everything would be all right. She knew that Mike was nothing like this man, but being around Tina's husband made her extremely nervous.

Bobby introduced Mike to his brothers and brothers-in-law as they sat around talking. Mike learned that Bobby was a mechanic in his fathers' garage, as were his two brothers. "I've been working on cars since I was a kid. What do you do, Mike?"

"I'm a police officer," Mike answered as he took a drink of his beer.

"A pig? No kidding?" Carlos, one of Bobby's brothers, looked at Bobby.

"Hey, Carlos?" Bobby looked at his brother. "Shut the fuck up. There ain't nothing wrong with being a cop. It's honest work. It pays the bills, right Mike?"

"Yeah, it does that," Mike told him.

"So, Christina was telling me that you were in the army. What unit?"

"Uh, the 82nd airborne. I was a helicopter pilot. My last duty station before Vietnam was Ft. McClellan, Alabama. That's where I met Jill."

"So, you were an officer?"

"Yeah, I got out as a major."

"Man, he sure as hell outranked you," Carlos laughed as Bobby glared at him.

Across the small yard, Tina introduced Jill to her sisters-in-law. "Were you the only girl?" Jill asked as Tina brought over a lawn chair.

"Yeah, and I was the youngest. My brothers wouldn't let me do anything," Tina laughed.

A short time later, the back door opened and a short, stocky woman in her mid-50's stepped out. "Dinner's ready," she called out.

"I thought you were barbecuing," Jill told Tina as they walked toward the house.

"We were, but Bobby's mother doesn't like barbecue, so she offered to cook dinner. I hope that you and Mike like Mexican food. Mama Sanchez is a wonderful cook."

Tina wasn't kidding when she said that her mother-in-law was a wonderful cook. There were enchiladas, rice, beans, guacamole, and a stack of homemade tortillas. But, as wonderful as the food was, Jill quickly decided that she didn't like her new friends' husband. He was as bossy and demanding as Cleve had been. But, Mike seemed to be having a good time, so she didn't have the heart to tell him that she wanted to leave.

After dinner, the children went out to play in the yard as Bobby's mother prepared to clean up the mess. "Do you need any help, Mrs. Sanchez?" Jill asked.

"No, no," the older woman scoffed. "Roberto just told me to put the leftovers in the refrigerator. Christina can clean up the mess after everybody leaves. You go back out and visit."

Jill felt horrible that her friend was being left with such a huge mess. There had been at least 20 people eating dinner. And, not a paper plate in sight. Jill made up her mind to ask Tina if she needed help when she went back out to the yard. She grabbed a soda from an ice chest by the back door and went back out to once again sit with the women. "Tina, do you want me to help you clean up when the party's over?" She asked.

"Please don't do that," Tina glanced over toward the men, as if checking to see if her husband had overheard. "You and Mike are our guests. I can't ask you to help me clean up. It'll get done."

Jill was about to say something else, but thought better of it. Maybe Mike was right. Maybe she was butting into something that was none of her business.

The party started winding down at around 11 o'clock. "You'd better drive," Mike said, pressing the keys into Jill's hands. "I've had a lot more to drink than you have."

"We had a great time, Tina," Jill said, hugging her friend. "Thank you for inviting us."

"Thank you, Tina. The food was wonderful," Mike smiled as Bobby came into the house. "Tell your mother-in-law that she's a great cook."

"I will," Tina smiled. "Thank you for coming."

"Why was he smiling at you like that?" Bobby's slurred words hit her as soon as the door was closed. "Were you trying to come onto him?"

"No, Bobby," Tina turned to face her husband. "He was just being friendly."

"I don't want you talking to him, I don't want you looking at him, I don't want you even saying his name," he advanced toward her. "Do you understand me?"

"I won't, Bobby," she cowered as she prepared for him to start hitting her.

"Get the fucking kitchen cleaned up. It looks like a cyclone hit it," he turned and left the room.

Tina breathed a sigh of relief as she went back into the kitchen. As long as she knew it'd take her to clean the kitchen, it was better than being hit by Bobby. As she began running hot water in the sink, she thought about Jill and Mike. She could tell by the way that they were holding hands when they came into the house how much he loved her. She remembered when Bobby had loved her like that. She knew that she could never let Jill know how things really were in her house.

Neither Mike nor Jill said anything for the first several minutes as they were heading toward the apartment. As she glanced over at Mike, at first Jill thought that maybe he'd passed out. "Remember when I told you the other day not to butt into Tina's business?" Mike said as he glanced over at Jill.

"Yeah, I remember."

"I particularly want you to steer clear of her husband. There's something about that guy that I don't like."

"Do you believe me now?" She asked. "About him abusing her?"

"I don't know, babe. I'll admit that he seems to be a control freak, but I didn't see anything else."

"He's a damn mama's boy," Jill muttered under her breath as Mike looked at her and grinned. "What's so funny?"

"That is the first housewarming party I've ever been to where burgers and dogs weren't on the menu. It was a nice change though."

"'Bobby's mother doesn't like barbecue,"' Jill imitated Tina. "If your mother had told me that, I would've told her that it's _my _house and I'll fix what I want my guests to eat."

"Well, my mother doesn't like barbecue either."

"Yeah, but we also don't live down the street from your mother."

"I think that's where you're supposed to add 'thank God,'" Mike looked at her.

"I didn't say that. I like your mother."

As she drove toward the apartment, Jill found herself wondering just what Bobby had said to make Mike warn her about him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimers: Nope, they still aren't mine. Wish they were.**

**Summary: As Tina and Jill's friendship begins to grow, Jill finds herself drawn into the drama of her new friends' life, much to Mike's growing concern. Mike confides to Willie and Terry about the reason why he wants Jill to stay far away from Bobby Sanchez.**

**Author's Note: My boyfriend said that this chapter needs some romance before all hell breaks loose. This is going to be the last chapter for a while where Jill and Mike's life is anything close to being normal. So thus the M rating.**

Chapter 3

_Four weeks earlier_

"Hey, do you want to shoot some hoops when we get home?" Terry asked as the three men were getting dressed in the locker room.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me. I'll even supply the six-pack," Mike grinned as he zipped up his boots.

"You're just offering because you know that I'm going to kick your ass," Terry challenged.

"Does that sound like a challenge to you?" Mike turned toward Willie.

"Yeah, it sounds like one to me," Willie agreed.

"I'll tell you what," Mike stood up and closed his locker. "Since you think that you're the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain, if you can beat me and Willie, I'll throw in _two _six-packs. If we beat you, you owe us pizza and beer. And that includes Jill."

"So you and William against just me?" Terry clarified as Mike nodded. "Okay, you're on."

"So, how is Jill?" Willie asked as they were leaving the precinct.

"Okay. Why do you ask?" Mike frowned as his friend.

"It's just that, uh . . . " Willie glanced at Terry for help.

"What? What's going on?" Mike asked.

"Mike, did I hear her the other night? I thought that I heard someone scream and it sounded like it was coming from your apartment," Terry said as they walked toward their cars.

"Yeah, you probably heard her. She has bad dreams sometimes," Mike unlocked his car, indicating that the conversation was over. "I'm sorry if she woke you up."

"No, it's okay. Look, we'll meet you on the basketball court in 45 minutes," Terry looked at Willie as they got into Terry's sports car.

As Mike got behind the wheel of his car, he thought about the last several nights. Jill had had nightmares every night for almost the past week. Some nights he'd been able to wake her up before she started screaming, but on two occasions, she'd screamed out after he'd gone to sleep.

He knew what was troubling her, but he also worried for her safety. She'd reported that Tina had come to work on at least two occasions with suspicious injuries. She'd also told him that she was no longer the only person who was concerned. The nursing supervisor had called Tina in and questioned her about the mysterious injuries. Tina had denied that anything was going on at home. The injuries had supposedly been caused by household accidents. Without proof, Mike had told Jill that there wasn't anything that anybody could do. He once again told her to please stay out of it. He stressed that if Tina wanted her help, she'd ask for it.

Jill was making a pitcher of iced tea when she heard Mike's key in the door a little while later. "Hi, sweetheart," she kissed him when he walked in and put his keys on the counter.

"Hi, baby. I'm going to change clothes and go downstairs to shoot hoops with the guys. I won't be long."

"Are you saying that you'd rather go downstairs and play with your friends than stay inside and play with me?" She grinned devilishly as she tugged on his shirt.

"Oooh, that's a very tempting offer, but we have a bet," he kissed her, nibbling gently on her lower lip. "But, I'll tell you what. After dinner, we can play."

"Just don't use up all of your energy on the basketball court," she warned him as she reached down and squeezed his behind.

"I won't."

A little while later, the three guys were involved in a rather heated game of two-on-one when Mike heard his name being called. Mike looked toward the fence and was surprised to see Tina Sanchez standing there. "Hi, Tina. What can I do for you?"

"I . . . I was just wondering if Jill was home," Tina looked toward the ground.

"Yeah, she's upstairs. Go on up," Mike smiled as Tina turned and quickly headed for the stairs.

"Cute girl," Willie observed.

"Is that the girl from the hospital?" Terry asked.

"Yeah," Mike said. "Jill thinks that she's being messed up by her old man."

"What about you?" Terry looked at Mike.

"The night that we went to the party at their house, I was sitting with Tina's husband, Bobby. It was me, Bobby, Bobby's brothers, and Tina's brothers. The girls were all sitting on the other side of the yard. Anyway, we were talking back and forth, just bullshitting. Anyway, Bobby and one of his brothers started speaking Spanish, not knowing that I can understand them."

"What were they talking about?" Terry wanted to know.

"A lot of derogatory crap about women in general, but Bobby was tearing apart Tina, in particular. I was waiting for him to start saying something about Jill, because if he had, I would've probably torn him apart."

"What was he saying about Tina?" Willie asked.

"Just crap about how he hoped that she'd finally learned to stay in line. The way that he was talking, I'm guessing that something happened at Ft. Bragg while he was overseas."

"Another man?"

"No, I'm guessing that she probably tried to leave him and he talked her into coming back. He probably told her that leaving him wasn't an option. Anyway, when we were coming home, I told Jill to stay away from him."

"You think Jill's being pulled into this?" Terry guessed.

"I know she is, and it scares the hell out of me. You know how explosive abuse situations can be," Mike looked at them as they nodded. "I've told her to stay out of it, but she just wants to help a friend."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that," Terry pointed out.

"I know that. It's just the cop side of me is worried about her."

"Then, we'll worry about her together," Terry grinned as he picked up the basketball. "Now, where were we?"

"Tina, come in," Jill stepped away from the door to let her in. "What brings you here? Is everything all right?"

"Mike said it was all right for me to come up here."

"Of course it's all right. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I just didn't know who else to talk to. My sisters-in-law have their own problems," Tina stammered as she stepped into the living room.

"Please have a seat. Would you like some iced tea? I just made some," Jill offered.

"Oh no. I can't stay long. I have to get home to cook supper. Jill, he killed the kittens and when I got upset about it . . . "

Jill shuddered as she sat down beside her friend on the sofa. A week before Tina had told her and another co-worker that she'd found three kittens abandoned beside a storage shed in their backyard. Their eyes weren't yet opened, so Tina had been feeding them with a doll bottle.

"Tina, are you sure that it was Bobby?"

"I couldn't find them this morning to feed them. When I got home this afternoon, I went to take out the garbage and . . . there was a paper bag on top of the trash. The . . . kittens were inside. He'd broken their necks. I started screaming when I saw them. He came outside and . . . warned me that if I didn't shut up, he'd . . . make me shut up."

"Tina, does he know that you're here?"

"No. I told him that I was going to the store to get something to go with supper. That's why I can't stay long. Jill, I don't know what to do."

"Tina, how often does he . . . " Jill stopped, not sure of how to phrase her question.

"How often does he hit me?" She finished the question. "I have to go. I thought that you'd understand, but I guess that I was wrong."

"Tina, stop," Jill reached out and grabbed her hand. "Believe me, I do understand. I understand more than you think I do."

"You too?" Tina sat back down.

"No, not anymore. But once, a lifetime ago. Tina, you have to get out."

"I can't. I tried to leave after he got back from Vietnam, but he found me."

"I know, you told me. Tina, why did you go . . . never mind."

"I left Ft. Bragg and went to San Diego to stay with my parents. Jill, you have to understand. My family is devout Catholics. Divorce isn't an option. My father told me that my place was with my husband. Bobby told me that things would be different. He said he just needed to be near his family. Things were okay for a little while."

"Excuses are what they're good at, Tina. My ex wouldn't even apologize after a while. It was always something that I'd done."

"How did you get away?"

"I don't want to talk about that," Jill said sadly. "Let me talk to Mike . . . "

"No, Jill," Tina adamantly shook her head.

"He's a police officer. He can give me some advice. Let me talk to him and I'll talk to you at work tomorrow. It'll be okay," Jill smiled to assure her.

"I just don't want him to judge me."

"Mike's not going to judge you. I'll talk to you tomorrow. You'd better get to the store and back home before he wonders where you're at," Jill said as she walked Tina to the door.

"Thank you, Jill," Tina tentatively hugged her as she left the apartment.

Jill closed the door behind her before walking back over and sitting on the sofa. She hoped that Mike could advise her on what to tell Tina. She knew that she had to do what she could to get her out of that situation.

Half an hour later, Mike, Terry and Willie entered the apartment. "He shoots, he scores!" Mike called out cheerfully until he saw Jill sitting on the sofa in tears. "Baby, what's wrong?" He raced over and pulled her close.

Willie and Terry looked at each other with puzzled expressions before walking over and sitting down. "Is Tina okay?" Terry asked.

Jill wiped her face with shaking hands before looking at the three men. She then told them the story that Tina had told her about the kittens. "I don't understand, Mike. How could someone be so cruel as to kill helpless kittens? She needs to get out of there."

"Baby . . . "

"No, she told me that she tried to leave him once before, but her father made her go back to him."

"Her father made her?" Willie made a face. "What is she? Twelve?"

"No, she's a devout Catholic," Jill glared at him.

"Jill, if she seriously wants to leave him, she has to have a plan," Terry said as Mike nodded. "It's not as simple as going home and just packing a suitcase. A guy like that isn't going to let her just walk out the front door."

"I know that."

"Does she have anywhere to go?" Willie added.

"Her brothers, but I'm sure that's the first place he'd look."

"Tell her that she has to establish a plan. She can't make a move until that happens," Mike told her.

"Mike, if she stays, he's going to kill her."

"Baby, listen to me," he forced her to look at him. "I know this is impossible to believe, but in an abusive situation, sometimes the victim is safer if they stay."

"Mike's right," she looked at Terry. "The abuser is more likely to kill his victim when she's trying to escape. We've seen it in just the short time we've been cops."

"So, I'm supposed to go to work tomorrow and tell her to stay with a man who's beating the crap out of her?"

"Jill, it's just until she can come up with an escape plan," Terry told her. "Tell her to start working on one. Her brothers will work until she can make permanent arrangements."

"Will her brothers let her stay with them?"

"Yeah, she stayed with them before after he got back from Vietnam, while he was stationed at Ft. Bragg."

Bobby Sanchez looked up from his recliner when Tina walked through the screen door with two paper bags of groceries. "I was beginning to think that you had to milk the cows," he walked over toward her. "What took you so long?"

"There was a long line at the check-out."

"I've told you that when that happens, you find a shorter line!"

"I'll get supper started," she said as she tried to walk past him.

"Who were you with, Christina?"

"Bobby, I was at the store. Please let me get supper. You must be hungry," she tried once again to edge past him.

He wrenched the bags out of her hands and tossed them to the floor. Tina cried out as eggs, glass bottles of orange juice and milk smashed all over the floor. "Now see what you've done!"

"Bobby, I'm sorry!" She screamed as his fists began pounding into her repeatedly as she cowered in fear and protection.

"Clean this fucking mess up and make me something to eat!" He finally finished his assault and stormed out of the house, exhausted from his tirade.

"Where are you going?"

"To my mother's house. Call me when you have my supper on the table!"

Tina winced as she got up off of the floor. Her head hurt from where he'd hit her with his fists, but at least she'd protected her face. The last thing she needed from her supervisor at work was more questions. She walked to the back door and removed the broom, dustpan and mop before going back to the living room and cleaning up the mess that had been caused by the ruined groceries.

As she cleaned up, she knew that she had to get out of this before she was forced to give in to his family's demands that they start a family. After the carnage of the kittens, she knew she'd be crazy to bring a baby into this hell.

Jill was lying in bed as she waited for Mike to get out of the shower. She wasn't thinking so much about Tina as she was thinking back to her own past with Cleve. Outside of Mike and Trap, there were very few people who knew about that part of her life. That was the way she wanted to keep it. She thought about what Mike and Terry had said earlier about it being safer for the victim to stay. She wondered if that was how Mike felt. She didn't think it would've been better for her if she'd stayed. If she'd stayed, sooner or later she was sure that Cleve would've killed her.

Mike opened the bathroom door, releasing a thick cloud of steam. He got under the covers and pulled Jill into the hollow of his shoulder.

"Did I ever tell you how scared I used to be in that house?" She whispered.

"Yeah, you've told me."

"But, as scared as I was, at least I had Trap. As ineffective as he was, he was better than nothing. Tina doesn't have anybody. She's trapped in that house day after day with a ticking time bomb."

"Baby, you have to trust me on this one. If she leaves without some kind of an escape plan, he will kill her. If she wants to get out, she has to do it slowly and carefully. If she has to, she can call the cops if he starts in on her."

"Then, he will kill her," Jill looked up at him.

Mike sighed as he held her. He knew that she wasn't going to like what he was about to say. "There's one other thing," she looked at him. "Until she's able to get out, I think it would be a good idea for you to stay away from her." He continued as he saw her beginning to protest. "Jill, Bobby knows that you're friends with his wife. If he can't find her with one of her brothers, he's going to show up here. He's every bit as dangerous as Cleve was. That's why I want you to back off."

"Mike, she's my friend."

"I know that, baby, but I couldn't bear it if something were to happen to you because of your involvement in all of this."

"Can we please talk about something else?"

"Yeah, we'll talk about something else," he thought for a moment before breaking out in a huge grin. "Terry owes us pizza and beer."

"How did that happen?"

"Well, he was bragging about his prowess on the basketball court, so Willie and I challenged him to a game of two-on-one. Between my brilliant defense and Willie's ability to shoot the basket, we kicked his ass," she looked at up him and smiled.

"So, did you use up all of your energy out there?" She asked, remembering their conversation from earlier in the afternoon.

"Not even close," he tilted her chin up and kissed her.

As they kissed, Jill unbuttoned his pajama shirt and pushed it off of his shoulders with his help. She sighed in contentment when he moved down to kiss her neck and shoulders. That contentment grew when he moved his hand up to caress her breasts through the nightgown that she was wearing.

She lightly stroked his back before reaching her hand down to gently fondle him, feeling him instantly get harder in her hand. "Oh God, baby," he whispered on a ragged breath as he reluctantly moved away from her.

He sat up and removed his pajama bottoms and boxer shorts before raising Jill's gown over her head and tossing it to the floor, leaving her clad in just her panties, but all too soon, he pulled them off and dropped them beside their other discarded garments on the floor. He then lay her back down on the bed and partially covered her body with his own. "I love you so much," he breathed, his eyes that brilliant mixture of blue and green that Jill loved so much. "I never want you to forget that."

"I love you, too," she said as her eyes misted with tears.

"Hey, don't cry," he smiled as he gently wiped her face. "I didn't say that to make you sad. I told you that because it's true. There aren't enough words to tell you what you mean to me."

"Then, show me," she whispered as she took his hand and placed it on the inside of her thigh.

She cried out when he touched her, a cry that was smothered by his mouth covering hers. She could never get over how he could make her body respond so well to his. It had been that way from the very first time they'd made love. She'd follow him anywhere just to keep feeling the way that she was feeling right now.

"Mike, stop," she begged him. "I need to feel you."

He stopped what he was doing with his fingers and completely covered her body with his own. She reached down and guided him into her, gasping as he slowly entered her. She wrapped her legs around his calves as he began to move, slowly at first, but gradually faster as she urged him on with her body.

She threw her arms around him and held on for dear life as she felt her climax roar through her, followed shortly thereafter by Mike reaching his own orgasm. He collapsed onto her shoulder as she lightly stroked his neck and back. "You do realize . . . that tomorrow I'm probably going to have to listen to Terry complaining about the headboard, don't you?" He teased as he kissed her gently.

"Well, tell him that unless he and Willie want to come over and help rearrange our bedroom, he's going to have to live with it," she smiled as she continued touching him.

He rolled off of her onto his back as he pulled her into his embrace, knowing full well that she wouldn't stay long. But, he decided as he drifted off to sleep, it was always nice as long as she did stay.

As Jill lay against Mike's chest listening to the steady beating of his heart, she couldn't help but compare her life with him to the hell she'd endured with Cleve. That last thought made her more determined than ever to help Tina get away from her abusive husband. As she drifted off to sleep, she had no way of knowing the hell that she was about to walk into.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimers: Don't own 'The Rookies' and never will.**

**Summary: Jill continues to try to help Tina and the results are tragic.**

Chapter 4

_Two and a half weeks earlier_

It was a week and a half after Jill had had the conversation with Tina about leaving her husband Bobby. Tina hadn't liked what Jill had told her, but she'd reluctantly agreed to try to come up with a plan of some sort before she tried to move out.

"So, how are things going?" Jill asked as they sat down to lunch.

"Some days are okay, some days aren't," Tina answered as she opened her lunch.

"Have you found a place to stay or are you going to stay with one of your brothers?"

"I can't stay with Miguel or Leo. That's the first place he would look. I have a cousin that lives in Marina Del Rey. She's said that I can stay with her until I can save some money to get my own place. Bobby doesn't know where she lives, so I should be okay. She wants me to try to come this weekend. I've told Miguel and Leo that I'm just staying there for a few days. Which reminds me? Can you go shopping with me tomorrow? I want to buy some new clothes."

"Yeah, we can go in the morning and then have lunch somewhere," Jill smiled.

"Mike won't mind?"

"No, Mike won't mind."

"Well, when you told me to have a plan, I thought that if I took clothes from our closet, Bobby would notice. That's why I want to buy some things."

"Has your cousin said anything about why you want to stay with her?"

"She's met Bobby, so she knows what I'm up against."

"What all are you taking with you?"

"Not much. Miguel and Leo are just coming over to make sure that I'm okay. I could use some help packing my clothes."

"Tina, I thought that's why you were buying new things. So that you wouldn't have to take anything with you."

"Jill, if I leave my things, he'll burn them."

"Then, let him burn them. You can buy new things."

"I have to take my jewelry. Some of that stuff was my grandmother's."

Jill wanted to reach across the table and shake Tina until her teeth rattled. "Tina, believe me, I understand all of that. But, we're talking about your life here. What good is your grandmother's jewelry going to do you if you're dead? I escaped with the clothes on my back, and nothing else."

"How did you get out?" Tina looked at her.

"By doing this!" Jill held up her arms so that Tina could see the pale white scars that now marked the insides of both wrists. "I don't want you to end up doing the same thing!"

"I can't. Suicide's a sin and I'd go to hell," Tina glared at Jill defiantly. "Maybe leaving is a bad idea. Maybe he'll change."

"And maybe someday pigs will fly. I have scars all over my body from five years of abuse. The first three years I told myself the same thing that you're telling yourself now. 'Maybe he'll change.' 'Maybe he'll stop hitting me.' He never did. He just got worse. If you want to stay, that's your decision. But, I'm telling you that it's a bad one and the wrong one."

"I have to leave him, Jill. I don't have a choice. Lately he's been pressuring me to have a baby. It's what his family wants. It's always been about what his family thinks we should do. I can't bring a baby into this."

"No, you can't," Jill agreed. "What time are you planning on going to your cousin's house on Saturday?"

"As soon as Bobby leaves for work. He leaves the house at 7:30, so can you be there by eight or 8:30?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. But, Tina, take as little as possible. You don't want to waste time getting things when his mother lives just down the street."

"Saturday is market day," Tina grinned. "She's as regular as the mail. Every Saturday for as long as I've known her, she spends Saturday morning at the market. She's always gone for at least three hours."

Jill's gut was telling her not to do it. She had the day off, but Mike had to work. Normally she'd sleep late and do her own grocery shopping when she got up. But, she remembered how it'd felt to be as desperate as Tina was right now. She knew that if she'd said one word to one of the bikers, her problem would've been solved. At one time, one of them had even offered to 'take care' of Cleve for her, but she'd been horrified at the offer.

Later that evening, Jill was sitting on the sofa watching Mike clean up after dinner. "You're quiet tonight," he observed as he looked at her over the counter.

"I'm going to go shopping with Tina tomorrow. She wants to buy some new clothes. She asked me to come over on Saturday."

"Why?"

"She's going to stay with her cousin in Marina Del Rey, and she asked me to come over to help her pack some of her things."

"No, Jill," Mike protested. "If she's planning on leaving, that's terrific. But, I don't want you assisting her any further than you already have."

"Mike . . . "

"No, Jill! If you have to, tell her that I forbid it. That's something that she'll understand."

"Mike, that's unfair."

"Babe, my loyalties aren't to her. My loyalties are to you. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt," she argued.

"How do you know that? How do you know that Bobby's not going to come home when she's in the middle of leaving him? How do you know his mother isn't going to call him and tell him what's going on?"

"Tina's got all of that covered. Saturday is her mother-in-law's market day. She said she should be gone all morning."

"'Should' being the operative word. This discussion is over, Jill. I don't want you going over there."

One part of her resented Mike treating her like a child, but the other part understood his fear. Jill's stomach had been churning all day at the prospect of going over there. Mike was right. What if Bobby did come home unexpectedly? He'd probably kill all of them, but especially Tina.

But, then there was the third part. The part of her that remembered that scared girl she'd been before she'd met Mike. Or as he was fond of telling it, before he rescued her. That girl would've given anything to have someone help her. She looked over to find Mike watching her carefully. "Okay. I won't go over there," she finally said.

"Baby, I know that you think that I don't get it," he walked over and knelt down in front of her. "And, I admit that I don't. At least not one hundred percent. But, Bobby Sanchez scares the living hell out of me."

"I just feel like I'm letting her down. She asked me as a friend to help her."

"And, you have," he took her hands in his. "But, there has to be a limit."

Jill knew that he was right, but it didn't make her feel any better.

The next morning, Jill and Tina went shopping, and then had lunch at a small restaurant near the hospital. "Can I put the stuff that I bought in your car? I don't want Bobby to see anything. You can bring them to me Saturday," Tina said as she ate her salad.

"Uh, about that . . . "

"Jill, please tell me that you're going to help me," Tina implored her. "You promised."

"I know, but Mike really hit the roof last night when I told him . . . "

"Why did you tell him? You could've just come over and helped me. You would've been home in an hour, probably less."

Jill suddenly had the feeling that she was being manipulated and it pissed her off. "I told Mike because I don't hide things from him."

"Come on, Jill! I don't tell Bobby things for a reason."

"I know. I'm sorry. But, he was really upset. Besides, he'll have the car," she said as an excuse.

"That's not a problem. I can arrange for Miguel or Leo to come and get you. It's not going to take long. I thought about what you said about getting out as fast as possible. Please, Jill?"

As Jill sat and thought about it, she knew that if she was only gone a short time, Mike would never have to know. She'd never lied to him or hidden anything from him before, but this was a good cause. She knew that while he'd be angry if he found out, he'd also understand. "Okay, I'll be there, but I'll take the bus. But, if Mike finds out . . . "

"It shouldn't take longer than an hour, an hour and a half tops. Thanks, Jill. Follow me to the house. I have a few more things for you to stash for me until Saturday."

"Tina . . . "

"It won't take long. Come on."

When they got to the house, Tina handed Jill a small overnight bag with a few belongings in it. Jill immediately went out and put the bag in her car. When she came back in, Tina offered her a soda, which Jill accepted. It was early in the afternoon, so she thought there was no danger of being interrupted by Bobby. They were chatting and laughing when the phone rang. "Excuse me," Tina got up and answered the phone that was hanging on the dining room wall. "Hello? It's a friend of mine from work."

After that, the conversation switched to Spanish, which Jill didn't understand except for a few words. Tina talked for a few more minutes before getting off the phone, but now she seemed jumpy. "Tina, what's wrong?"

"My mother-in-law seems to think that she's my keeper. I think that's why Bobby wanted to move into this house."

"I should go," Jill said as she got up.

"No, it's okay. I mean, she'll tell Bobby, but it's not like he's going to come bursting through the door in the next five minutes."

No, it was more like 15 minutes. Tina and Jill were still talking when the front door flew open. Both women jumped as Bobby Sanchez entered the room. "What in the hell is she doing here?" He roared, pointing a beefy finger at Jill.

"I was in the neighborhood and I dropped by to visit with Tina," Jill lied.

"Shut the fuck up! I didn't ask you! Mama saw her follow you home, Christina. What is she doing here? Are you sharing her old man?"

"No, Bobby . . . "

"Bullshit! I saw the way that he was smiling at you the night of the party. If I find out you're screwing around on me, I'll cut your face up so that no man ever looks at you again."

Jill was torn between fleeing and calling the cops. She knew that the police wouldn't do anything because he hadn't hit his wife. So, she decided to leave and quickly. Just as she walked past him, he grabbed her arm, causing her to cry out in pain and terror. "Bobby, let her go!"

"If I _ever _see you around here again, I will kill you and then I'll go after your old man for not keeping you on a leash! Go on! Get out of here!"

When Jill got in the car, her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't fit the key into the ignition. Finally, after taking several deep breaths, she calmed down enough to start the engine and drive home. When she got home, she went into the apartment and raised her shirt sleeve. While she could make out the finger impressions, she didn't think she'd bruise. Because, if she did, she wouldn't be able to hide it from Mike and he'd do to Bobby what he'd always promised to do to Cleve. But, to be on the safe side, she took an ice pack from the freezer and after wrapping it in a dishtowel, placed it on her arm.

She was still trying to get her shaky nerves calmed down when the doorbell rang, causing her to jump again. She walked to the door and looked through the peep hole to find Terry standing there.

"Mike isn't home, yet," she said as she opened the door.

"What happened?" He asked, indicating the ice pack that she was still holding in her hand.

"Oh, I had an overzealous patient at work. He didn't want to let me go," she lied as she walked back to the sofa. "There's beer in the fridge if you want one."

"Does that happen a lot? Patients grabbing you, I mean," he said as he took a beer from the fridge.

"Sometimes," she forced a smile. "I've been spit on, thrown up on, peed on, grabbed more times than I can count . . . "

"Jill, I haven't known you very long, but I've known you long enough to know that I'm being had," Terry walked into the living room and sat in a chair across from her. He was shocked when she burst into tears. Wondering where Mike was at, he sat beside her and awkwardly put an arm around her shoulders. "What's going on?"

"You have to promise me something," she said through her tears. "You can't tell Mike."

"Whoa!" Terry got to his feet. "Jill, he's my best friend. I'm not going to keep secrets from him, especially when it concerns you. You tell me and I'll decide if I should tell Mike or not. Fair enough?"

"I had lunch with Tina Sanchez today. Afterwards, we went to her house, and while we were there she had some kind of an argument with her mother-in-law. It was in Spanish, so I couldn't understand them. Anyway, right after that, Bobby came home."

"Bobby is Tina's husband?" Terry confirmed as Jill nodded. "Did he hurt you?"

"He threatened to kill me if I don't stay away from Tina."

"Mike's been worried about this. He's scared shitless that this guy is going to hurt you. Did she develop an escape plan?"

"Yeah, she's going to Marina Del Rey on Saturday," she said, not saying that she was going over to help her, against Mike's wishes.

"Then, you won't have to worry about her after that."

"Are you going to tell Mike?"

"In light of what I know about your husband and the way he feels about you, I probably shouldn't. I don't want to be responsible for what he'd do to that clown. What else did he do besides threaten you?"

"Nothing."

"Then, why the ice pack? Jill, if you don't want me talking to Mike, you have to be straight with me."

"When I was trying to leave, he grabbed my arm and squeezed it. That's when he threatened me."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, he just scared me. I'll be okay," she smiled.

"Look, just tell Mike that I stopped by and I'll see him at work tomorrow."

Mike was awakened later from a sound sleep by the sound of Jill crying out in her sleep. He rolled over and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Baby?" He called out quietly as she continued to thrash about. "Baby, come on. Wake up. You're dreaming."

She jolted awake and stared at Mike, who was watching her with concern written all over his face. "Did I scream?"

"No, not yet. Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head as she reached for him. "Baby, you're shaking. What were you dreaming about?"

She didn't say anything as Mike continued to hold her. How could she tell him that now her nightmares were not only full of images of Cleve, but of Bobby Sanchez, as well? She was beginning to regret her decision to help Tina.

_Two days later_

Saturday morning, Jill took the bus over to Tina and Bobby's, arriving shortly after eight o'clock. Not seeing any other vehicles parked near the house, she walked up to the front door and knocked. "Hi, Jill. Come on in," Tina answered the door and opened it for her. "My brother Miguel called a few minutes ago. He's on his way with Leo and Leo's friend, Charlie."

"Has your mother-in-law left to do her errands?" Jill asked as she followed Tina to the kitchen.

"Oh, I don't know. Probably. Would you like some coffee?"

Jill felt like telling her that no, she didn't want coffee. She wanted to get Tina packed and out of this house before they got caught. Her stomach was knotted so tightly that it was actually hurting. She had the sudden urge to flee. She hadn't been this scared in over four years.

Miguel, Leo, and Charlie arrived a few minutes later and the packing got underway.

At the home of Tina's in-law, Ermelinda Sanchez was preparing to leave to do her weekly errands. She glanced up the street to her son's house out of habit, expecting to see nothing out of the ordinary. What she saw instead sent her scurrying back into the house and straight to the telephone.

Over at Sanchez & Sons Garage, the phone rang in the office. "Sanchez & Sons, this is Alfred. How may I help you today?" Bobby's father answered the phone.

"Alfred, let me talk to Roberto," Ermelinda Sanchez told her husband.

"Bobby! Telephone!" Mr. Sanchez called out as Bobby loped over to the phone. "It's your mother."

"Mama, what's wrong?" Bobby answered the phone as his mother began jabbering on in rapid Spanish. "I'll take care of it, mama. No, I'll take care of it!"

"Bobby, what's wrong?" Alfred asked when his son slammed the receiver down.

"I have to go home."

"Is everything okay?"

"Dad, I have to go. I'll be back later!" Bobby reached for his car keys and raced out of the garage.

Back at the house, Miguel, Leo, and Leo's friend, Charlie, were taking things out of the house and placing them in the trunk of Tina's car. Jill and Tina were in Tina and Bobby's bedroom as Tina began removing clothes from the closet. "Tina, you're taking too much stuff," Jill hissed at her.

"I told you, Jill, that if I leave my things, he'll burn them," she said as she placed a load of clothes over her arm. "I'm going to take these to my car."

Tina walked out of the front door and to the opened trunk of her car. She'd just placed the load of clothes into the trunk when she heard tires squealing. She looked out in time to see Bobby coming toward them wielding two pistols. "You bitch!" He screamed at her in Spanish.

"Bobby, no!" She screamed as the first shot rang out, hitting her in the stomach.

"Bobby, don't!" Miguel screamed as more shots rang out.

Two neighbors came running out of their homes to try to stop the carnage, but Bobby quickly turned on them, too. Looking around, he walked up to Tina, who was laying on the ground moaning. Aiming carefully, he fired another shot into her head. He then turned, jumped back into his car and drove off.

Jill was sitting on the edge of the bed, contemplating on whether she should just leave and head to the nearest bus stop, when she heard shouts from outside. She was about to go investigate when she heard the first gun shots, followed by screams of terror. She looked around the room frantically for an escape route. She knew that if she tried to open the windows, she'd probably be heard. She looked over toward the bathroom. She quickly ran in there and looked around. The window was too small, but there was a dark shower curtain shielding the bathtub. Jill quietly moved the curtain aside and climbed inside of the tub. She lay down in the bottom and shielded her head with her arms, waiting for the worst. For what seemed to be hours, all she heard was gunshots and screams. She continued to hide in the bottom of the bathtub, expecting to be found any moment, expecting to die. The thought filled her with terror.

The sound of sirens soon filled the air as several police cars and unmarked units arrived on the scene, as well as a couple of ambulances. But, after checking pulses, it soon became apparent that the ambulances were unnecessary.

A police officer was checking the house for other victims when he heard a peculiar sound coming from the back of the small house. "Hello?" He called out as he walked down the small hallway. "Can anybody hear me? It's the police!" The sound seemed to be coming from the bedroom at the end of the hallway. "Police! Can you hear me?" He entered the bedroom and looked around. He was about to leave when he once again heard the sound. It sounded like a wounded animal and seemed to be coming from the bathroom. He cautiously walked over and slowly pulled the shower curtain back, revealing Jill, who was huddled and shaking furiously with her arms still over her head. The officer ran to the bedroom doorway. "Hey, I've got someone alive back here!"

The small bathroom was soon filled with people. "Miss, can you hear me?" One of the paramedics touched Jill on the arm as she jerked away from him. "Help me get her out of here."

With the assistance of a police officer and another paramedic, they lifted Jill out of the tub as she fought them with everything she had. They strapped her to a gurney they'd left in the hallway and wheeled her out of the house. Meanwhile, more units were pulling up, including Lt. Ryker. "What happened?" He asked as he got out of his car.

"We're not sure," one of the officers reported. "Witnesses said that the husband showed up and just started shooting. We've got six people dead. They found someone alive hiding in the house. They should be bringing her out soon."

"Was she injured?"

"I don't think so."

Ryker's face went white when he saw Jill on the gurney. "Has she said anything?" Ryker asked as he walked over to the gurney.

"No, sir. She's in a deep state of shock. We can't even get her to tell us her name," one of the paramedics reported.

"Jill Danko. She's the wife of one of my officers. Mrs. Danko?" Ryker called out Jill's name as she looked away from him. "Did you see who did this?"

Instead of answering, she fought to turn away from him. "We need to get her to the hospital, sir."

Mike was on patrol when he heard radio chatter regarding the multiple homicide. Having only been to the Sanchez' house the one time, the address wasn't familiar to him. So he was surprised when dispatch called his unit and told him to report to Memorial Hospital. "Ludlow Seven, roger," he said as he drove toward the hospital.

When Mike entered the hospital, he was shocked to find a chaotic scene in the emergency room. "What's going on?" He asked when he found Lt. Ryker.

"Danko, do you and your wife know a Christina Sanchez?"

"She's a co-worker of Jill's. I've only met her a couple of times. Why? What's going on?"

"I'm sure that you've heard about the multiple homicide," Ryker said.

"That was the Sanchez house?"

"The victims were Mrs. Sanchez, her brothers, Miguel and Leonard Alvarez, and Carlos Mendoza, as well as two neighbors who tried to intervene."

"Jesus," Mike breathed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Danko, there's more," Ryker said as Mike looked at him. "Your wife was there. She wasn't hurt," he quickly added," but she was deeply traumatized by what happened. We don't know what she saw, because she won't talk to us."

"Damn it!" Mike roared. "I told her _not _to go over there."

"So, you were aware that there was a volatile situation at the residence?"

"Yes, sir. Tina Sanchez was trying to leave her husband. Where did you find Jill?"

"One of the officers on the scene found her hiding in the master bedroom bathtub. We think that she hid there as soon as she heard the first shot, but until she tells us something, we can't confirm that."

Just then the doctor came out. "Doctor, can I see her?"

"She's almost catatonic, Officer Danko. You can see her, but she's not talking. I want to keep her overnight to treat her for shock. Go in quietly. Sudden movement has a tendency to upset her."

"Okay," Mike nodded as he walked over and entered the trauma room.

A nurse looked up when she heard Mike's footsteps. "Jill, Mike's here. Why don't you try and talk to him?"

The nurse pushed a stool over for Mike to sit on as he sat and carefully took her hand, only to have her pull free of his grasp. "Baby, what happened?" Jill didn't say anything. She just kept staring at the ceiling. "Baby, did you see anything? Did you hear anything? Was it Bobby?"

At the mention of Bobby's name, Jill began hyperventilating before she started screaming. "Jill, it's okay," the nurse instantly came over and slowly calmed her down. "Mike, you're going to have to leave."

Mike turned around and quickly left the room. "Danko, did she tell you anything?"

"No," Mike shook his head. "But, she became very upset when I asked her if she heard Bobby."

"Is that the husband?" Ryker asked as Mike nodded. "Let's get an APB out on him."

"His family owns a garage," Mike told him. "He might be there."

"I doubt it, but we'll check it out. Stay with Jill. Question her if you're able, but don't push it if you start to upset her."

Ryker went out to his car and got behind the wheel. "Dispatch, patch me through to Ludlow Nine." After the dispatcher got Terry and Willie on the radio, he instructed them to go the Sanchez' Garage and question them about the possible whereabouts of Roberto Sanchez, who was wanted for questioning in the deaths of his wife, brothers-in-law, and two neighbors earlier that morning.

"Ludlow Nine, roger," Willie responded as he looked at Terry. "Wasn't Sanchez the last name of that friend of Jill's?"

"Yeah. I'm glad that Jill didn't go over there," Terry said as they drove toward the garage.

"Yeah, because if she had, she'd be dead, too."

Alfred Sanchez looked up from under the hood of a car that he was servicing when Terry and Willie pulled up. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, sir. We're looking for Roberto Sanchez," Terry said.

"Why are you looking for him?" The older man asked suspiciously. "Has something happened?"

"Could you get him for us please?" Terry asked.

"Yeah. Wait here for a minute," Mr. Sanchez entered the inside of the shop and walked up to a young man standing behind the register. "Eddie, has Roberto come back?"

"No," the young man shook his head. "Why?"

Glancing outside to where Terry and Willie were patiently waiting, he switched to Spanish. "The police are looking for him."

"About what?"

Terry's ears perked when he heard the word 'policia.' Growing up in a household with parents who were immigrants from Cuba, Terry had spoken Spanish exclusively until he started school. Cautioning Willie, he slowly moved closer to the open doorway to listen.

"I don't know why they're here. Go to your mother's and see if Roberto is there. Find out why she called him. Go on, go!" He urged as he turned and saw the two cops standing there. "Roberto left the shop a while ago. He had errands to see some of our vendors and he hasn't returned. Do you have a number that you can leave? I'll have him call you when he comes back."

"Just have him call the precinct when he returns. Tell him to ask for Lt. Ryker," Terry instructed as they turned to leave the garage. "We need to get to the Sanchez house," he told Willie as they got into the car.

"Why?"

"Because I think Sanchez just sent his son over to his parents' house to create some sort of a diversion."

"You really think that they'd shield their son after what he did?"

"Wouldn't you if it was your kid?"

"I didn't know you knew Spanish," Willie said, changing the subject.

"My parents came over here from Cuba. Until I started first grade, that's all I spoke. But, Sanchez doesn't know that," Terry grinned at his partner.

"So, you don't think he knew that you understood him?"

"I know that he didn't. That's to our advantage," Terry said as he drove toward the home of Sanchez' parent's.

As they pulled up in front of the home of the elder Sanchez,' they could see the crime scene taped stretched across the murder scene just a few houses up the street. There were also several unmarked units still on the scene, as well as the van belonging to the medical examiner.

When they got out of the car and approached the front porch, they could hear angrily raised voices coming from the open front door. "Mama, what did you do?" They heard the voice of the other Sanchez son, Eddie, asking in Spanish.

"She was leaving, Eduardo! Roberto loves her! I just called him so that he could stop her!"

"Did you know how he was planning on stopping her, Mrs. Sanchez?" Terry asked in Spanish as he opened the screen door and stepped into the house with Willie.

"You called the police?" She looked at Eddie.

"They came to the garage looking for Bobby."

"Mrs. Sanchez, where is your son?" Willie asked.

"I don't know. I didn't know that he was going to shoot them!" She cried as she wrung her hands. "He just didn't want Christina to leave him!"

"Where is Roberto?" Terry repeated the question.

"I don't know," she repeated her answer. "Is it true that he killed all of them? Christina, Miguel, and Leo?"

"Them, plus three other people," Willie answered.

"No, they said on the radio that someone was alive. I heard them say that."

"The radio was wrong," Terry told her. "How did Roberto find out that Christina was leaving him?"

"I . . . I called him at the garage. I thought he was just going to talk to her, like he did when he was still in the army."

"Mrs. Sanchez, your son has a history of violence against your daughter-in-law," Terry told her.

"No, no, that's all lies," the older woman shook her head. "I didn't know he was going to do this."

"Nonetheless, you're the one who put the ball in motion. Please put your hands behind your back," Terry instructed her. "You're under arrest as an accessory before the fact in the murder of your daughter-in-law, Christina Sanchez. I'm going to read you your rights. You have the right to remain silent . . . "

As Terry read the woman her rights in Spanish, she continued to sob and protest that she didn't know things were going to end this way. "I'll call dad and we'll get a lawyer," Eddie told her as they lead her to the car as neighbors came out of their homes to gawk. "Don't say anything until we get one. It'll be okay, mama!"

They took her to the precinct and booked her into custody before going back downstairs where they ran into Sgt. Older. "Where's the lieutenant?" Terry asked. "We just booked Sanchez' mother into custody for calling and warning her son that his wife was leaving him."

"He's probably still at the hospital with Danko."

"Why? What's going on with Mike?" Willie asked.

"His wife was at the Sanchez house."

"Is she okay?" Terry asked.

"I don't know," Older shrugged. "Ryker hasn't checked in."

"That must be the one person alive that Mrs. Sanchez said she heard about on the radio," Willie said.

"And, if the media knows there's a witness, how long will it be before Sanchez finds out?"

At the hospital, Mike was standing outside of Jill's room while the doctor examined her. He looked up when the doctor came out. "How long are you going to keep her?" Mike asked.

"At least overnight. But, truthfully, it's going to depend on when she starts talking. The important thing right now is to keep her warm and calm. She's sleeping right now if you want to go sit with her."

"Thank you," Mike sighed as he entered her room.

The nurse looked up when Mike walked into the room. "Keep her covered," she advised as Mike nodded.

As Mike sat down in the nurses' vacated chair, he couldn't help but wonder why Jill had gone over to the Sanchez house after he'd warned her not to. It was so unlike her to hide things from him. She mumbled something in her sleep before rolling onto her left side and tucking herself into a tight fetal position. Mike worried about her dislodging her I.V., but it appeared to stay in place. He looked up when he heard a light knock on the door. Seconds later, the door opened and Terry stuck his head in the door. "Mike, is she okay?"

"Hold on," Mike stood up and left the room. He walked out to find Terry and Willie looking at him with anxious expressions on their faces. "She's in shock. They found her hiding in the bathtub at the house, but she hasn't said a word. Have you found Sanchez?"

"No, but we just booked his mother into custody for calling him and warning him that his wife was leaving him," Terry reported.

"Damn it!" Mike said again. "Supposedly Tina had everything figured out for today. From what Jill told me, Saturday is supposed to be Mama Sanchez' market day. Either Tina started trying to leave too early or Mama suspected something."

"So, how long are they going to keep Jill?" Willie asked.

"Overnight, as far as I know. The doctor is hoping that she'll start to come out of the shock by then and start talking. Speaking of which, I need to get back in there."

"Okay. We'll talk to you later."

In her tortured mind, all Jill could hear were screams, followed by gunshots. The silence that followed seemed louder than the previous noise. She opened her eyes and sat up as she looked around. She wrapped her arms around her knees as she began to frantically rock back and forth.

"Baby?" Mike called out when he entered the room and saw her rocking. He sat down on the edge of the bed, but she stared past his shoulder as if he wasn't there.

He put his arms around her and cautiously pulled her close to him, trying to still her movements. While she didn't pull away, she also didn't acknowledge his presence. As he continued holding her, he wondered if he was going to get her back from whatever nightmare she'd witnessed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimers: Still don't own 'The Rookies,' but I'll just keep dreaming.**

**Summary: Jill continues to struggle to come to terms with the murder of her friend, while Mike makes the decision to put her in hiding due to a mistake made by the press.**

Chapter 5

_The day after the murders_

"I don't know what else I can do to get through to her," Dr. Felton was consulting with Jill's primary doctor regarding her condition. "I see that she awoke several times during the night screaming."

"Even under as heavy sedation as I dare prescribe, Mrs. Danko's still not sleeping more than half an hour to 45 minutes at a time," Dr. Travis said as the psychiatrist made notes on his chart.

"If I can't get through to her in the next 24 to 48 hours, she might have to be admitted for long term psychiatric care."

In her room, Jill was curled up in a fetal position with both hands planted firmly over her ears, staring unseeing at the wall. She'd been in the same position since the day before. Every time she closed her eyes, she could hear the awful sounds from that day. She could hear the sound of Bobby's tires as he screeched up to the house; the sound of one of the men shouting something in Spanish, and finally, the sounds of Tina screaming as the shots began ringing out. The silence that followed was almost as deafening as the screams and gunshots had been.

In her mind, she kept telling herself not to move. _Don't make a sound. If you stay quiet and still, he won't find you._ That had worked before until Cleve had discovered all of her hiding places. After that, there was nowhere to go. For a long time, she'd locked herself in the butler's pantry. The trouble with that was she had to come out eventually. Cleve would just wait her out and the ensuing beating would be far worse than if she'd just faced him to begin with.

Her eyes darted around the stark white hospital room. She was always looking for somewhere new to hide. Even with Mike keeping her safe, she was always looking for somewhere to hide. She knew that there would come a day when he couldn't keep her safe anymore.

She stiffened up when she heard the door open. She turned her back away from the person who entered the room. "I've spoken to Dr. Travis," Dr. Felton said as he pulled a chair over. "He said that you're not sleeping. Your chart notes that you woke up several times during the night. Mrs. Danko, except for the shock, there's nothing medically wrong with you. I know that what happened to your friend had to have been terrifying . . . "

Jill closed her eyes as she began to rock, all the while crying hysterically. "If you'd talk to me, I could help you move past the memories of that day," he said. "You can't stay silent forever, you know."

_Oh really?_ She felt like asking him. In that house in the Hollywood Hills, she could sometimes go for weeks without saying a word. Her and Trap both. The bikers had taken to calling Trap 'the mouse,' because of his silently sitting and watching everything without saying a word. Speaking never did Jill any good. Cleve never listened to her, and he practically forbade her from talking to anyone else.

There was always Mike. He loved listening to her. But, she also knew that he was angry at her. He'd told her not to go to Tina's house, but she hadn't listened. She'd as much as lied to him. "I'll come back later," she heard the doctor say. "Let me know if you decide that you want to talk."

"Danko!" Mike heard his name called as he headed for the locker room. "How's your wife?" Lt. Ryker asked.

"Still the same. I stopped by the hospital this morning, but she's still not talking."

"Come into my office," Ryker motioned as Mike followed him. "Have you seen this morning's paper?"

"No, I left the apartment in a rush."

"You and Jill might have a bigger problem than her not talking," Ryker held the front page of the paper out to Mike.

Mike looked at the front page and instantly felt himself begin to pale. On the front page of the paper, plastered larger than life, was a picture of Jill being taken out to a waiting ambulance. The caption read: **POLICE WAITING TO QUESTION SURVIVOR OF SATURDAY'S MASSACRE.** "Who took this?" Mike shook the paper in front of his boss.

"That's what we're trying to find out. Danko, chances are pretty good that even if Sanchez himself hasn't seen this, one of his family members has. Have they said anything about releasing Jill from the hospital?"

"Not yet. Her doctor is reluctant to as long as she's in this state. Even though her name isn't mentioned, Sanchez is going to put two and two together."

"Do you have somewhere where you can hide her?"

"Possibly. I'll have to do some thinking about it."

Mike went to the locker room in a fury. Damn media! They were nothing but a bunch of blood sucking vultures, all looking for a sound bite or a story for the next day's paper. He thought of where he could take Jill when she was released. Hotels were one option, but if Sanchez wasn't caught quickly, that option would get expensive. That left one option, one that wasn't going to be popular with either party. He walked over to the pay phone and fished a dime out of his pants pocket before dropping it into the coin slot. "Mother, it's Michael," he said when his mothers' familiar voice came on the line. "I was wondering if I could drop by later this afternoon to talk to you and Pop."

"Of course. Is everything all right?"

"I'll explain everything when I get there. I should be there around 5:15 or 5:30," he said as he ended the call. He knew that Jill would hate it, but at least she'd be safe. That was all that mattered to him right now.

As he was walking out of the locker room, he was stopped by Willie and Terry. "How's Jill?" Terry asked as they fell into step with him.

"She's not doing real well at the moment. She still won't talk, and every time she goes to sleep, she wakes up within a short time screaming. Did you see this morning's paper?" He asked them.

"Yeah, that's what we were about to ask you about. What're you going to do?" Willie asked.

"Well, I can't take her back to our place. At least not until Sanchez is caught. Has there been any word on that?"

"Nope," Terry shook his head. "There's been no sign of him, and his relatives aren't talking."

"One of them has got to know where he's hiding," Mike said through clenched teeth.

"Detectives are sitting on the garage, hoping that maybe he'll show up to get money from his old man," Terry told Mike. "So, what are you going to do about Jill?"

"I'm going to talk to my parents' after I get off duty. Jill won't like staying there, but right now, that's the least of my worries."

As he drove to his parents' house later that afternoon, Mike rehearsed in his head what he was going to say to them. He was going to make it very clear to his father that there was going to have to be some rule changes if they were going to stay.

When he got to the house, the maid led him out onto the covered patio where his parents were having iced tea. His mother's small terrier, Babette, ran up to him, barking madly, until his mother called her off. "Michael, is everything all right? You sounded upset when you called earlier. Is Jill all right?"

"Not really. That's why I'm here," he said as he took a seat at the small patio table.

"Michael, I saw the newspaper," his father said. "What happened?"

"The woman who was murdered was a friend of Jill's. They worked together at the hospital. Jill just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right now, she's suffering from a severe case of shock. Nobody can even get her to talk about what happened."

"Michael, this is horrible," Mrs. Danko looked at her husband. "Is there anything that we can do to help?"

"Yes, there is. Until the man who did this is caught, I can't risk taking Jill back to the apartment. If he's seen the paper, he's going to find out about her. Is it all right if we stay here, just until he's caught? It shouldn't be more than a few days at the most."

"Yes, of course," Mr. Danko nodded. "She needs to be kept safe."

"I appreciate that. But, if I'm going to do this, you're going to have to understand a couple of things. Pop, I know how you feel about displays of affection, but I'm not you. If Jill needs me, she's going to get me. Also, she has nightmares. This is something that I've dealt with as long as I've known her. There are times when she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. It's a little . . . unnerving . . . if you're not aware of it."

"When will she be released from the hospital?" Mrs. Danko asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm supposed to talk to her doctor this evening about that. Her muteness is starting to concern him. I don't imagine that he's going to release her as long as she's not willing to talk."

"I'll have Jean get your old room ready. Just call and let me know when you'll be bringing her here."

"Thanks, mother. I'd better be going," he said as he glanced at his watch. "I'll call you later this evening."

One of Jill's nurses came into the room to take her vital signs. She was shocked to find Jill huddled in a corner of the room, shaking with fear. "Jill, what're you doing out of bed?" The nurse came over and tried to help Jill to her feet, only to have Jill wrench violently away from her. "Jill, it's okay. Let me get you back into bed."

"No!" Jill's eyes were wide with fear as she pulled away from the nurse. "I have to hide! If I don't hide, he's going to find me! There has to be a place to hide!"

Jill jumped to her feet and began to frantically search every nook and cranny of the small hospital room. The nurse walked over to the bed and picked up the phone. "This is Mrs. Watkins in room 912. Page Dr. Travis. Stat!" As soon as she got off of the phone, she made her way over to Jill, who was still searching the room. "Jill, why don't you get back in bed and relax? I've paged the doctor and he should be here soon."

"No! I've got to hide! Don't you understand? If I don't hide, he's going to find me. He always finds me. Why can't I find somewhere to hide?"

Just then, Mike entered the room. "Mike, I need your help," the nurse turned toward him. "Maybe she'll listen to you."

"What's going on?"

"I came in and she was like this. She won't listen to me. I've paged Dr. Travis."

Mike watched as Jill continued searching the room. After watching her, he slowly approached her. "Jill? Baby, what're you looking for?"

"Mike," she turned and touched his face with her hands. "I've got to hide. He's going to find me if I don't."

"She keeps saying that, over and over," the nurse said in exasperation.

"Go wait for Dr. Travis. I'll take care of her," Mike told the nurse, who left the room. "Jill, you're safe here. Nobody's going to hurt you."

"No, I _have to hide_," she said, emphasizing every word. "He always found me before and he'll find me this time if I don't find a new place to hide."

Mike quickly realized that she wasn't talking about Bobby Sanchez. She was talking about Cleve. "Baby, listen to me. Cleve isn't here. He's not going to find you."

"Why are you lying to me?" She screamed at him as the door opened and the doctor came in with Mrs. Watkins. "I was hiding, but this time he didn't find me. Someone else found me, but they told him that I was hiding. Who found me, anyway?"

"The police did, baby," Mike said, as the doctor approached them. "Baby, you weren't hiding from Cleve."

"No!" She put her hands over her ears as the sounds came rushing back to her. "Tell her to stop screaming! If she stops screaming, maybe he'll go away! Maybe he'll go away without finding me!"

"Mike, you're going to have to hold her," the doctor warned as he walked toward Jill with a hypodermic syringe in his hand.

Mike wrapped both arms around a kicking and screaming Jill as the doctor finally managed to get the needle into her upper arm. It was only moments before her entire body went limp. "When did she start talking?" Mike asked as they helped him get her back into bed.

"I don't know," the nurse said. "When I came into the room to take her vital signs, I found her crouched in the corner. That was the first time I heard her say anything since she'd been brought in."

"I need to talk to you," the doctor looked at Mike as they stepped out of the room. "Dr. Felton was talking about admitting her. After what I've just witnessed, I'm inclined to agree with him."

"Well, you know what? I don't agree. If any of us were in her shoes, do you think our reactions would be any different?" Mike asked. "A friend of hers was murdered, and Jill had to listen to it happen."

"Who's this Cleve person that you mentioned when I came into the room?"

"He was an old boyfriend," Mike said, using the simplest explanation.

"If he was an old boyfriend, why would she feel the need to hide from him? Mr. Danko, her memories are conflicting with one another."

"She's confused after coming to in a strange room. Trust me, everything will start making some sort of sense to her again."

"I don't trust releasing her when she's in this state. If she's alone and the memories start rising to the surface, she could hurt herself."

"She's not suicidal," Mike said through clenched teeth.

"No, but she was once."

"You know what? I'm not even going to try to explain that to you. She had to answer questions about it when she got hired on here. Apparently, the human resources department had no qualms about her working as a nurse."

"And, I'm not saying that Jill isn't a fine nurse. All I'm saying is she was in that dark place once. If she feels responsible for what happened to Christina Sanchez and her brothers, those feelings could come back."

"I'm taking her to my parents' house. She won't be alone. Now, that she's talking, when are you going to release her?"

"I want her to talk to Dr. Felton first. I'll make a determination based on what he says."

"Fine," Mike said as he turned on his heel and went back into Jill's room.

"Mike," he heard her whisper as she reached out her hand toward him.

"It's okay," he walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. "I thought that you were asleep."

"I was until everybody left," her words were slurred as she tried to focus her eyes on him. "Don't leave, Mike. If you leave, I'll have to hide from him again. I can't let him find me."

"I'll stay until you go to sleep," he vowed to her as he lightly rubbed her back.

"No, you can't leave. If you leave me, he'll find me."

"Okay, calm down. I'm not going anywhere."

"I have to find a really good hiding place this time," she closed her eyes as sleep finally overcame her.

Mike was dozing off when he heard the door open and the psychiatrist, Dr. Felton, came in. "I understand that you want to take her home," he said as he closed the door. "Do you want to step outside and discuss this?"

"I can't leave. She becomes very agitated every time I try to leave the room."

"Dr. Travis gave her enough sedation to bring an elephant to his knees. I think she'll be okay for five or 10 minutes."

"And, I'm telling you that she won't," Mike argued as he reluctantly followed the doctor from the room. "Dr. Travis said that you wanted to admit her as a psych patient."

"I think that she needs a 72-hour hold. Her not speaking and now the manic state that you and her nurse found her in earlier speak of this."

"She'll never go for it."

"I've seen her records, Mr. Danko. And, as you both well know, a 72-hour hold following a suicide attempt is the law. There was no avoiding that. Has she ever discussed with you why she slashed her wrists?"

"What does that have to do with this? That was a long time ago," he started to explain as they heard screams coming from her room. "I told you that she wasn't letting me leave."

When they re-entered the room, Jill was sitting up with her hands over her ears, screaming hysterically. "Jill, it's okay," Mike walked over and sat on the bed as he pulled her close. "You're safe now. He can't find you here."

"He won't find me?" She pulled away and stared at him with huge eyes.

"No, I won't let him. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Why is he here?" She looked over Mike's shoulder at Dr. Felton.

"Babe, this is Dr. Felton. He just wants to talk to you for a few minutes."

"No," she shook her head. "No more shrinks."

"Babe, they're not going to let you come home with me if you don't talk to him."

"They're talking about committing me? How could you, of all people, let them do this to me? I'm not crazy!"

"Nobody wants to commit you, Mrs. Danko," Dr. Felton said in a silky voice. "I just want to talk to you for a few minutes."

"About what?" Her eyes went back and forth between Mike and the doctor.

"Just give him a few minutes," Mike looked at the doctor.

"Mike, if he says one word about committing me, fight it. I don't care how you do it, just don't let them lock me up."

"He's not going to commit you," he kissed her forehead. "You'll be fine."

The doctor pulled up a chair after Mike left the room. "Has somebody tried to have you committed before?"

"They told me it was just observation, but it was a lie," all the while she was talking to the doctor, her eyes were darting frantically around the room.

"Why do you feel the need to hide?" He asked as she looked at him in fear. "Dr. Travis reported that you were looking for a place to hide. You're safe here."

"No, I'm not. I'm not safe anywhere if he can find me."

"Are you talking about Tina Sanchez' husband?"

"No! I don't want to talk about that!"

Dr. Felton knew that whatever painful subject he broached, he was going to hit a brick wall. So, he made the decision to play it safe for the time being. "Tell me about Mike," he said as he looked at her.

"What about him?" She watched him warily.

"Does he keep you safe?"

"He used to."

"But, he doesn't anymore?"

"He's trying to fix things. He told me not to go over there."

"He told you not to go to the Sanchez house?" He clarified as she stiffened up. "Okay, we'll skip that for right now. What things is he trying to fix?"

"Are they going to make me talk to you as a condition of returning to work?" She asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know. They might. Would it be so awful to talk to me?"

"I don't want to talk anymore," she lay down and turned her back to him, indicating that their conversation was over.

"How is she?" Mike asked when the doctor came out of her room.

"I'm not sure. When I tried to ask her about the Sanchez murders, she shut down. I'm not sure when the police are going to be able to question her. I do think that she can be released in the morning, provided that you have a safe place to hide her until the killer is caught."

"Yeah, I've got a place for her, although she's not going to like it."

"Right now, I think all that matters to her is being safe. I do want to see her after she's released, though."

Jill was still facing the opposite wall when Mike came back into the room. "Are they going to let me go home?" She asked when he came over and sat on the edge of her bed.

He knew how terrified she was about being found, but he also knew that he had to tell her. "Baby, we can't go home."

"Why?" She asked as she sat up and looked at him.

"A photographer from the newspaper snapped a picture of you. It was on the front page of this morning's paper. We have to assume that Sanchez saw it."

"He knows that I was in the house? He knows that I was hiding?"

"Hey, it's going to be okay. We're not going to let him hurt you. _I'm _not going to let him hurt you."

"Where are we going to go?"

"I've talked to my parents," he said as she began shaking her head. "Baby, listen to me. It's going to be okay. I've talked to my father."

"Mike, he doesn't like me touching you . . . "

"I've taken care of that. He's not a total monster," he smiled as he cupped her face.

"Are there places to hide?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure that there are. After all, it is a big house. But, you're not going to need to hide."

"Mike, I didn't see anything."

"I know."

"But, the noise . . . I just want the noise to go away! Please make it stop!" She put her hands over her ears as Mike pulled her against his chest.

"You need to sleep, baby. I'll sit here until you wake up," he settled her against her pillow as he took her hand. Eventually her eyes closed and her breathing evened out as she fell into a drug-induced deep sleep.

While she was sleeping, Mike picked up the phone and made a couple of phone calls. The first was to his mother, letting her know that he'd be bringing Jill over sometime the next morning. The second call was harder to make, but the way that Jill's mind was working, there were things that he had to know. "Trap, it's Mike," he said, trying to keep as quiet as he could so as not to wake Jill up.

"Mike, what in the hell is going on? Was that Jill's picture . . . "

"Yeah, but I can't go into that right now. I can't stay on the phone long, but I need to know something. Did Jill ever try to hide from him?" He asked, not using Cleve's name.

"At first, all of the time. But, he'd just wait for her to come out from wherever she was hiding. Why?"

"Never mind. But, you answered my question. I'll talk to you later."

After he got off of the phone, he sat there watching his wife sleep. But, as he watched her, he couldn't help but think of the scared young girl who'd constantly felt the need to hide from an enemy that she could never escape.

Across town, Bobby Sanchez kept staring at the front page of the Sunday _L.A. Times _in a silent fury. Why hadn't he checked the house? Just because there weren't any strange cars parked in front of the house didn't mean that Christina didn't have help. After all, she'd also had help when she'd left Ft. Bragg. Well, this was a problem that was easily solved. That Danko bitch would live to regret ever ratting him out to the police.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimers: Still don't own 'The Rookies.' I never have and it looks like I never will.**

**Summary: Mike hides Jill at his parents' house, where Jill starts to learn things about her mother-in-law's own past, which gives her insight into her husband.**

**Author's Note: The decision to hide Jill at her in-law's was a fairly easy one, but I'm throwing in a bit of a curveball. Instead of treating her as he normally does, this time Mr. Danko is going to pull a complete 180. This could get interesting.**

**Also, Jill is going to make a new friend in this chapter.**

Chapter 6

_The days after the murders_

The next morning, Jill was nervous and jumpy as Mike drove her to his parents' house. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked as she looked at him. "Why did you ever think for a minute that I would try to have you committed?"

"My room became a psychiatric convention. They were traipsing in and out, all asking me the same questions. I was scared, Mike. I still am."

"I know that, baby."

"What if he finds me? What if he follows you or one of the guys?"

"He's not going to follow me. And, as for Willie and Terry, they know where you are, but they don't know the address."

"They can read. All they have to do is open the phone book. For that matter, that's all Bobby Sanchez has to do."

"Baby, I'm not going to let him hurt you."

"How are you going to stop him?"

Mike didn't answer. It was pointless. She'd been on this tangent all morning. As far as she was concerned, she was no longer safe and there was nothing that Mike could say or do to change that fact. "When do you want to give your statement to the police?" He finally asked, breaking the silence in the car.

Instead of answering, she closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears. Dr. Felton had explained to him that whatever she had heard was so painful to her that it was easier to just try to block it out than to try to deal with it. The night before, she'd slept until he was forced to leave by the end of visiting hours. The nurse had told him when he'd returned to the hospital that morning that he'd no sooner left than she'd awakened and had refused to go back to sleep. "Are you going to stay with me at your parents'?"

"I have to work, but I'll be with you when I get off duty. I'm not going to leave you there alone. There's no telling what kind of stories my mother will tell you about me," he grinned at her, trying to lighten the mood.

"I know that you think I'm crazy. Maybe I am," she sighed as she stared out of the window.

"I don't think you're crazy. You've just had a horrible shock."

"But, you're sure that there are a lot of places to hide," she looked at him with huge eyes.

"Yeah, there are plenty of places to hide," he reached for her hand as she let him take it.

"That's good. There aren't a lot of places to hide in the apartment. Maybe this is better. For a little while, anyway."

He wanted to ask her about hiding in that other house, but he decided that now wasn't the right time. When they pulled up into his parents' driveway, he walked around and opened her door before removing their bags from the backseat. As they walked up to the front door, he could see her examining the house from top to bottom.

The maid let them in and led them to the small sitting room where Mike's mother was doing needlepoint. "Hello Michael, Jill," she greeted them as Jill visibly drew back. "Would you like some coffee?"

"No, thank you," Jill whispered as she looked at Mike.

"I don't think so, but thank you. I'm going to take our bags upstairs. Jill, have a seat. I'll be right back."

Jill's eyes darted around the book shelf covered room as she sat on the edge of a loveseat as if she was going to run from the room at any moment. Mrs. Danko couldn't remember ever seeing someone who looked so frightened. "Michael was telling us about your friend. It must be awful to have been so scared."

Jill fidgeted nervously, waiting for Mike to come back. She didn't want to talk about Tina. She just wanted to hide and not come out until this awful nightmare went away. She jumped a foot in the air when Mike came back into the room. "Are you okay?" He asked, as he looked over at his mother.

"I'm very tired. Would it be all right if I lay down for a while?"

"Of course. Michael, take her upstairs. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."

"I'll be right back," Mike said as he took Jill by the hand and led her upstairs. "Are you sure that you're okay?" He asked as he helped her get settled in the Queen-sized bed.

"I didn't sleep last night. I can't sleep unless someone's in the room. I'm afraid . . . I'm afraid . . . "

"You're afraid that he's going to come in when you're alone?" He guessed as she nodded. He pulled her against him as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Mike glanced at his watch as he held her in his arms. He was supposed to go back on duty. As gently as he could, he disengaged himself from Jill and quietly left the room. His mother was still working on her needlepoint project when he came back into the room. "Mother, I have to get back to work. Tell Jill that I should be home around five."

"Michael, she's as nervous as a . . . how do you say it? A cat in a . . . " she stopped and looked at Mike for help.

"A cat in a room full of rocking chairs?" He grinned as she nodded. "Stop reading so many Southern romance novels," he kissed her cheek. "If I leave Jill around you too long, you'll learn all kinds of sayings."

"But, she is all right?"

"She will be, in time. Just don't ask her any questions about it. It upsets her a lot."

"I won't. Have a good day, Michael."

When Jill woke up, she was alone except for a small dog lying at the foot of the bed. The dog slowly walked up to her when she heard Jill stir. "Where did you come from?" She asked as the dog lay down next to her.

Wondering where Mike had gone, she got up and made her way downstairs with the dog at her heels. When she couldn't find him or his mother, she walked toward the kitchen where the maid was in the process on getting things ready for dinner. "Mrs. Danko is in her garden in the back," Jean told Jill. "I see that you found Babette," she said, indicating the dog.

"More like I think that she found me. You said that she's in the back?"

"Yes, miss."

Jill stepped onto the covered patio and saw Mrs. Danko working in a huge rose garden. She opened the door and stepped out into the yard with the dog at her heels. She'd never seen so many rose bushes in one place except for parks. "This is beautiful," she breathed as she looked around.

"My mother had the most beautiful roses when I was growing up. I always wanted to have a garden just like hers. There's some lemonade on the table if you're thirsty."

Jill walked over to the small patio table and poured herself a glass of lemonade. "Do you need some help with the roses?"

"You know how to tend roses?" Mrs. Danko looked over at her.

"I grew up on a farm," she walked over as Mrs. Danko handed her a pair of pruning shears.

"Michael said that he had to go back to work, but he said to tell you that he'll be home around five. Did you sleep well?"

"Not really," Jill admitted as she helped prune the rose bushes.

"When I was expecting Michael's oldest sister, I was sent to the states to stay with my in-law's," she smiled at Jill. "Michael's father remained in France because he was stationed outside of Paris. But, he feared that there was about to be war in Europe."

"How long were you apart?" Jill asked.

"Almost a year. Claudia was five months old the first time her Papa ever saw her. And, then we were only together for a short time. But, he was right to send us away. My mother and my sisters . . . well, let's just say things were not good after the war came."

Jill couldn't even begin to imagine being in a strange country with a new baby while her husband was fighting in a war thousands of miles from home. "You're braver than I think I would've been," Jill said.

"I did not feel brave at the time. Every day I worried that I would be getting a telegram from the War Department. That was how they notified you. I was so glad when we were able to be together as a family again."

"I was glad when I was able to be back with Mike again, too. Being apart was awful."

"Jill, please believe that you are safe here. I know what it is like to be afraid."

"I want to believe that, but . . . "

"You have been very afraid before?" Mrs. Danko guessed as Jill looked at her in surprise.

"For a long time," she admitted.

"I thought as much. I didn't see my mother or my sisters for more than eight years. When I saw them again, I had five babies," she said as Jill smiled. "My mother was a much different person than she was when I was sent to the states. When I was a girl, my mother would sing and tell us funny stories. When we returned to France after the war was over, she was sad and scared. All of the time she was scared. Sometimes the children could make her smile, especially the boys. They were only babies at the time," Jill smiled at the idea of Mike being a small child. "My sister told me that they saw some awful things."

"They couldn't escape?"

"There was nowhere to escape to. There was no money to get them out of France when I left. I felt guilty for a very long time. I finally had to accept that there was little that I could have done."

"Do you think that they blamed you? Because you were able to get out and they weren't?"

"They said that they did not, but I do not know. So, that is some of my story."

"Mike was afraid that you were going to tell me funny stories about him when he was small," Jill said as her mother-in-law laughed.

"Michael was quite precocious," Mrs. Danko said as Jill hung to every word. "He was the youngest, so he was doted on by everybody. But, he also had a mind of his own."

"He still does."

"That is not always a bad thing. He cares about you a great deal."

Jill was about to say something when a door opening made her jump a foot in the air. She looked to see where the noise was coming from as her father-in-law made his way into the yard. "I'm sorry, Jill. Did I scare you?" He asked as he greeted his wife with a kiss on the cheek.

"She is still rather jumpy," Mrs. Danko told him.

"I don't blame you after what you've been through. So, what have you ladies been up to?"

"Pruning the roses and talking. We were talking about war, and being apart. We were also talking about Michael having a mind of his own."

"That he does," Mr. Danko admitted.

"Jean will serve dinner at 5:30," Mrs. Danko informed her husband.

"I have some paperwork to catch up on, so I'll see you at dinner," Mr. Danko turned and went back to the house.

"I am sure that Papa did not mean to frighten you."

Jill didn't say anything. As her eyes darted frantically around the yard, she spotted a swing in the middle of the garden. She walked over and sat in the swing as Mrs. Danko watched her. She'd seemed fine until Papa had come home and frightened her. She'd hoped to get her to maybe talk about what had scared her so badly. Even though Mike had asked her not to question Jill about it, she figured that it didn't hurt to try.

Mrs. Danko watched as Jill walked over to the swing, followed by Babette. She made her way over to the swing and sat down beside Jill. "I know that you don't want to talk about what happened to your friend."

Jill looked at her mother-in-law with her eyes full of tears. "Every time I think about what happened, I keep hearing their screams. They were screaming and it was so loud. It was so loud and there wasn't anything that I could do."

Mrs. Danko closed her eyes as she remembered her sister telling her a similar story. There were times when she wished that she'd stayed in France with her family, despite the fact that she was newly married to an American soldier and she was expecting their first child. At times she felt as if she'd left her mother and sisters alone to a never-ending nightmare. "I remember my sister telling me that sometimes your best intentions are never enough," she said as Jill looked at her.

"I don't understand."

"I didn't either, at the time. We'll talk more about that another time. A time when you are feeling a little stronger."

"It was awful for them, wasn't it?"

"I have to help Jean with dinner. Michael will be here with you soon," Mrs. Danko smiled as she got up, leaving Jill alone with the small dog.

Jill looked down at the little dog, remembering from her first visit to the house that she didn't understand English. Mr. Danko had explained that Babette clearly belonged to his wife. "Babette, I don't know one word of French," she said, as she patted the seat next to her. The dog jumped up on the swing and placed her head on Jill's knee as she slowly rocked the swing.

The garden was truly a beautiful place in the spring sunlight. It gave Jill the first feeling of peace and safety that she'd felt in the last several days.

Jean and his mother were putting the finishing touches on dinner when Mike came into the kitchen. "Something smells good," he kissed his mother on the cheek.

"Dinner will be ready by the time that you and Jill are cleaned up. She's out in the garden."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's fine. She just wanted to be alone. She seems to like the garden."

Jill was rocking the swing when Babette lifted her head up and jumped off of the swing, barking as she ran up to Mike. She heard Mike say something in French before he walked up to the swing. "Mama said that you liked the garden," he said as he sat down beside her.

"I feel safe out here. I don't know why," she said as he slipped his arm around her shoulder and drew her close as he kissed her.

"You're safe here, Jill. You have to believe that. Mama said that dinner will be ready by the time that you and I are cleaned up. And, I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

A short while later, they were all seated at the table as bowls and plates were passed around. "I'm afraid that I gave Jill quite a fright earlier," Mr. Danko told Mike as he passed him a platter of roast chicken.

"Well, she's understandably a little jumpy right now," Mike smiled at his wife as he passed the platter to his mother.

"You'll have to teach me some French so that I can talk to Babette," Jill said, as she took the platter from Mrs. Danko.

"Oh, you don't need to know French. You just need Rabbit," Mr. Danko said as his wife chuckled.

"What's Rabbit?"

"Ask her after dinner," Mike told her.

Assuming that it had to be a stuffed toy of some kind, Jill began eating dinner. She was fine as long as she didn't think about that day. But, it was getting dark and as it used to be in that other house, the night time was awful. As the meal progressed, Mike could see her getting visibly more on edge. She'd been that way when they'd started dating. It had taken him a long time to get used to the night times with Jill. He just hoped his parents weren't going to get a glimpse of the manic Jill he'd had to deal with the day before. He hoped to get her upstairs before that scene replayed.

After dinner, they talked with his parents for a while until Mike noticed that Jill seemed to be getting tired. "I think that we're going to say goodnight," he announced as he got up as he took Jill by the hand.

As he held her hand, Jill kept waiting for a disapproving scowl from her father-in-law. When none was forthcoming, she relaxed as she left the room with Mike. When they got to the attic bedroom, Mike closed the door behind them. "Can you lock it?" She asked as he turned the lock on the door.

"I put our things away while you were sleeping this afternoon. I put your gown in the top dresser drawer," he said as he walked over and took his pajamas out of a bottom drawer.

She took out her gown before walking over to the small bathroom. For some reason, the sight of the tub filled her with terror. She started having flashes of hiding in the tub at the Sanchez house. She closed her eyes as Mike watched her from the middle of the room. "Mike, I know that this probably sounds stupid and childish, but could you wait for me while I take a shower?"

"Wait for you in the bathroom?"

"Please?"

"Yeah, I'll sit in there and wait for you," he walked over and pulled her close as he felt her shaking.

"You could get in with me," she suggested as she pulled back so that she could touch his face. "We could be very, very quiet."

"Are you sure?" He kissed her very softly as she pressed herself closer to him.

"I'm very sure. I just want to stop being so damn afraid."

After getting out of the shower, they lay entwined in bed as Mike softly stroked her back. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked as she opened her eyes and looked at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay. What do you want to know?"

"When you were with him," he looked at her without saying Cleve's name, "were you scared like this?"

"I don't know. I mean, I always felt the same way when I was in that house," she said as she sat up. "I didn't realize that I was scared until you came along and I didn't feel that way, anymore. Does that make sense?"

"So, what happened brought back a lot of those memories?"

"I don't want to talk about that," she said, immediately putting her hands over her ears and closing her eyes.

"Baby, it's okay. I'm sorry," he touched her arm as she brought her hands down. "We don't have to talk about it. Come on, lay down and try to get some sleep."

"I don't know what I would do if I was ever to lose you," she said as he looked at her.

"Baby, I'm not going to go anywhere."

"This has got to be . . . irritating. I know that it would irritate me."

"Have you ever said or done anything in four years to send me running for the hills?" He asked her as she shook her head. "We're going to get through this. I know that when you're ready to talk to me about it, you will. I just have to keep telling myself to give you some space."

"I love you," she smiled at him.

"I love you, too," he kissed her as she snuggled closer to him. He held her for as long as he could because he knew once he went to sleep, she'd move out of his grasp to the far side of the bed.

It seemed only moments later when Mike heard her crying out in her sleep. "Please go away," she cried out as she tossed and turned. "Stop screaming! Stop screaming!"

"Baby," he sat up and touched her on the shoulder as she bolted awake, her eyes wide with terror. "It's okay. You were dreaming."

"He's going to find me if they don't stop screaming," she insisted as she sat up on the bed. "You're not going to let him find me?"

"No, I'm not going to let him find you," he promised her.

"You'll stay with me until they catch him, won't you?"

"Baby, why don't we talk about that in the morning," he suggested as he tried to pull her into his arms.

"I don't like staying here alone," she got out of bed and walked over to the window.

"You're not alone," he said as he got up and walked over to her.

"What if they never catch him?" She looked at him.

"He's going to get caught. You're just going to have to be patient," he told her. "Do you want to talk about your dream?"

"It was just screams. I tried to hide, but I could hear him right behind me. Then, he started kicking in the door," she began to pace the room as Mike watched her. "He was kicking in the door, and there was nowhere to hide."

"Was Sanchez kicking in the door or was it Cleve?"

"I don't know."

"Did you used to hide from him a lot?"

"Why are asking me about that?" She stopped her pacing to look at him.

"I don't know. You've told me about what he used to do to you, but you don't talk about living in that house in general. When you started talking again in the hospital, it was Cleve that you were trying to hide from, not Sanchez."

"It was a big house," she remembered as she walked over and sat down in the middle of the bed, pulling her gown tight over her legs. "There was a pool house out back. At first I'd hide anywhere that I could," she looked at him as he walked over and sat down next to her. "One time I hid all day in the butler's pantry. When I came out, he . . . he was just sitting at the dining room table, holding that stupid stick of his, and waiting for me."

"So, you stopped hiding from him?" He took her hands as she bit her lip and nodded.

"It didn't do any good. He'd just wait for me and then whatever he was going to do to me would just be worse. I'd only hide from him if I knew that he was really angry. I was always so scared of him, Mike," she said as she began to cry.

"I know, baby," he pulled her close as she held onto his shirt.

"I love you so much," she pulled away so that she could touch his face.

"I love you, too," he kissed her softly as she moved closer to him as he wrapped his arms around her. "So, do you still want to be very, very quiet?"

"Uh-huh," she smiled as he laid her down on the mattress.

Afterwards, he kissed her softly and tenderly as their heartbeats and breathing gradually returned to normal. "When are they going to make me talk about it?" She asked as she stroked his cheek with her fingertips.

"I don't know. Probably sooner rather than later. I'll talk to Lt. Ryker in the morning and we can talk about it when I get home."

"It's hard to sleep," she admitted. "Every time I close my eyes, I hear them. Mike, who else did he shoot?"

"Baby, we don't need to talk about that right now. Try to get some rest."

"Did he kill her brothers, too?" She asked as her voice started to rise.

"Shhh," he put his finger to her lips. "You need to try to get some sleep."

"You mean that you need to get some sleep," she said as he sighed.

"I mean, that we _both _need to get some sleep. Do you want to take one of the pills that the doctor gave you?"

"No. They make me feel like a zombie," she said as she moved away from him.

He lay on his side, gently stroking her back and shoulders as she gradually drifted off to sleep. But, he had a feeling that she wasn't going to sleep long. It had been this way many times when they'd first started sleeping together. Some nights the nightmares seemed to have an unceasing grip on her, causing her to scream out in the night over and over. Other nights, she'd have only one. As he slowly stroked her bare back, he saw the scar that he'd noticed their very first night together. Remembering that first night, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer into the hollow of his body as she instinctively pressed herself into his warmth. Only then did he finally go to sleep himself.

Mr. Danko was drinking coffee at the patio table the next morning when Mike came outside. "Good morning," his father greeted him as Mike poured himself a cup of coffee. "Did Jill have a rough night last night?"

"It's like that sometimes," Mike said as he took a seat at the table.

"Maybe she should be seeing someone."

"She's already been that route, and she's not anxious to go down it again. Please don't suggest it to her."

"Is she still asleep?"

"She is, until she realizes that I'm not in bed."

"Your mother was like that," his father smiled as the door opened and Jill walked out, her hair mussed from sleep. "Good morning, Jill."

"Good morning, baby," Mike smiled as he kissed her.

"Did you sleep well?" Mr. Danko asked.

"Not really," she admitted as she took a seat next to Mike. "Mike, can I keep the car?"

"Jill . . . "

"I want to go see Dr. Felton. I can't deal with the nightmares anymore."

"Have you called him?"

"Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first."

"I want you to go to see him and come right back here. Don't make any side trips," Mike warned her.

"If it's easier, I can take Jill to see him," Mr. Danko offered.

"No offense, but I don't need a babysitter," Jill argued.

"I'm not babysitting. I'm offering to save you and Michael gas as well as time."

"Either way, you still get to see Dr. Felton," Mike pointed out to her.

"Thank you, I appreciate the offer. I'm going to get dressed and call the doctor's office," she said as she left the patio area.

"Thanks, Pop," Mike thanked his father.

Jill was getting dressed when Mike came into the attic bedroom to get dressed for work. "It's not that I don't like your prescription for my nightmares, but I think I need a little bit more help," she smiled as he walked over and pulled her into his arms.

"Did you have more nightmares last night?"

"No, but I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I imagine that I'm being chased."

"Baby, I want you to feel safe," he said as he held her close.

"That's why I'm going to talk to Dr. Felton. I want to feel safe," she rested her chin on his shoulder as he held her. "I have to finish getting dressed."

"So do I," he said as he reluctantly let her go.

Mr. Danko and Jill didn't talk as he drove her to the hospital for her appointment with the psychiatrist. "Do you want me to wait for you here or would you feel more comfortable if I waited downstairs in the lobby?" He asked after she'd given her name to the receptionist.

"Wherever you want to wait. It doesn't matter," she told him.

"I'll wait for you downstairs," he smiled as he left the office.

"Mrs. Danko, Dr. Felton will see you now," the receptionist told Jill.

Taking a deep breath, she walked through the opened door and into the doctor's office where he was waiting for her. "Mrs. Danko, what can I do for you?" He asked as he walked over and shook Jill's hand. "Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you," she said as she sat down in an armchair.

"So, how can I help you?"

"I'm not sleeping. I'm having several nightmares a night when I do go to sleep. I want to get over the nightmares."

"Have you talked to anybody about what happened to Mrs. Sanchez?"

"I can't talk about it."

"As long as you can't talk about it, you're going to continue to have nightmares. Let's back up a little bit, shall we? When you started talking again, you were insistent that you needed to find a place to hide. Who did you need to hide from?"

"Bobby Sanchez."

"Are you sure? Bobby Sanchez wasn't even aware that you were in the house."

"He probably knows now."

"How do you feel about staying with your in-laws?"

"I don't like it, but I understand why I'm there."

"So, who did you need to hide from?"

"I was with somebody before my husband. I used to hide from him."

"Did you ask anybody to help you?"

"I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"If he knew that I was trying to get help, he would've killed me."

"But, was there anybody there who could've helped you if you'd asked them?"

"Yes, there were a few people who could've helped me."

"But, you were too afraid to ask them?" He guessed as Jill nodded. "So, it must've made you feel like you were really helping Christina out when she came to you for help."

"I knew what it was like not to have anybody."

"It must've felt wonderful to meet somebody who could remove you from that environment," he said as Jill smiled. "Does your husband know all of your stories about your life with your ex?"

"He knows most of them."

"How does he react when you share these stories with him?"

"Sad, shocked."

"What does he do when you have the nightmares?"

"He comforts me, but sometimes I wonder . . . "

"You wonder if he's annoyed by the nightmares?" He looked at her. "Have you asked him?"

"He says that he's not, but I don't believe him. If I were him, I'd be irritated if I kept getting woken up by screaming nightmares."

"We have a few more minutes, so let's talk about your ex for a bit. How often did you hide from him?"

"For the first two years that we were together, all of the time. But, he'd just wait for me to come out of hiding."

"What would happen when you came out?"

"He'd beat me," she whispered as tears slid slowly down her face.

"Do you still feel the need to hide?"

"After I have the nightmares, I want to hide," she admitted.

"Because you're afraid that you're going to be found and he's going to beat you."

"How do I make the nightmares go away?"

"I think that the nightmares will go away when Bobby Sanchez is found. I think that as long as he's out there, you're not going to feel safe."

"That's not exactly the words that I wanted to hear."

"I think that if there was a cure for nightmares, you would've found it by now. I think that you should try talking to your husband about some of the fears that you're feeling. I think that if you start voicing the fears, the nightmares will diminish."

After leaving Dr. Felton's office, Jill made her way over to the elevator and pressed the 'down' button. "Jill!" She turned to find one of her co-workers walking toward her. "I'm so glad to see you. How are you feeling?"

"A little better. Hopefully I'll be back to work soon."

"You're very popular. There's been a man calling for you several times a day for the past couple of days. He never leaves a message, though. He just asks if you're working."

"Does he leave a name?" Jill asked, fighting a rising feeling of terror.

"No. Like I said, he never leaves a message. But, he's been calling five or six times a day since you've been off."

"It's probably reporters," Jill said as the elevator doors slid opened. "I have to go. My father-in-law is waiting for me downstairs."

As she stepped into the elevator and the doors slowly closed behind her, Jill fought to keep her emotions under control. There was no doubt in her mind who'd been calling looking for her. It was Bobby Sanchez and he was going to keep searching until he found her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimers: Nope, still don't own 'The Rookies.'**

**Summary: Jill remembers more of her past with Cleve as she gives her statement to the police. **

Chapter 7

As he drove back toward the house after her appointment with Dr. Felton, Mr. Danko couldn't help but notice that Jill now seemed nervous and jumpy. As he drove, she kept constantly looking behind her as if she feared that they were being followed. "Are you all right?" He asked as he glanced at her.

"I guess that I'm just worried that he's out there somewhere."

"Jill, I want you to know that the house has an elaborate alarm system and I also have several guns. My son's not the only marksman in the family," he told her as she gave him a small smile. "Are you hungry?"

"No, but thank you."

When they got home, Jill immediately went out to the garden as Mrs. Danko looked at her husband. "I don't know what happened. She was like that when she came downstairs after her doctor's appointment."

"Maybe you should go talk to her," she suggested as he made a face. "Jonathan, she's married to our son. Like it or not, she's now family." She handed him two mugs of steaming tea. "You can take her one of these."

Jill was rocking the swing as Babette rested her head on her knee. "Marie thought you could use this," Mr. Danko said as he held out of the mugs. "I could go back and add a slug of whiskey to it, if you'd like."

"No, regular tea is fine," Jill reached for the mug as he sat down beside her. "Can I ask you a question? It's been on my mind since the first time that I ever dated Mike."

"You want to know why I sent him away," he guessed as Jill nodded. "Thinking back on it now, it wasn't one of my better ideas. Michael was precocious and he didn't exactly like to follow rules. Neither did his brother, for that matter, but Michael was the one who ended up paying the price."

"You couldn't have just disciplined him more?"

"I was a harsh disciplinarian, as were the nuns at the school that the children attended. None of that mattered to Michael. So, I came to the decision that if I couldn't control him, and the nuns couldn't control him, then military school was my last option. I don't think he's completely forgiven me."

"You sent him away from his family."

"As I told you a while back, I was angry when Michael turned down West Point. He was a fine army officer."

"Well, now he's a fine police officer," she smiled.

"I'm sure that he is. Can I ask you something now?" He asked as she slowly nodded. "Did you take drugs before you met my son?"

"At first I did. After a while, I just smoked a lot of grass and drank."

"What kind of drugs did you take?"

"I took Quaaludes and LSD. But, like I said, I stopped taking both of those after a while. My reality was so awful that I didn't need the drugs to enhance it."

"What about the grass and the drinking?"

"If grass was legal, I'd probably still be smoking it," she admitted as he gave her a look. "I was always on edge. It was the only thing that took the edge off. You can ask Mike. I'm not exactly a picnic to live with."

"I think we're all difficult at one time or another. You don't have the monopoly on that. Are you still worried that he's going to find you?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I think he's already trying," she said, repeating what her co-worker had told her.

"Are you sure that it's him?"

"I'm positive."

"When Michael calls you at lunchtime, you need to tell him so that he can tell his superior officer. I'm going to go back into the house, because you look like you want to be alone for a while," he said as he got up. Babette glanced up briefly before putting her head back on Jill's leg.

Jill stroked the dog's head as she thought about her conversation with her father-in-law. Except for Mike, that was probably the most honest she'd ever been with anybody about her past. She just hoped that he never asked her why she'd stopped taking 'Ludes and acid. She'd never even told Mike about those days.

Mike stopped by Ryker's office before he went to lunch. "Jill was asking me when the detectives wanted to talk to her," he said after he was allowed to enter the office.

"How is she doing?"

"She's still having a rough time, but I told her that she was probably going to have to give her statement soon. Are you going to be there when she's questioned?"

"I don't know. She's not going to be questioned, Danko. They just want her version of what happened. How is she handling the stay with your parents?"

"Well, she's not crazy about it, but she knows that she's safer there than she'd be in our apartment."

"I'll call Det. Reynolds and I'll let you know by the end of the day when he wants to see her."

"Yes, sir," Mike said as he left the office.

Mr. Danko answered the phone when Mike called shortly after 12. "Jill was upset when we left the hospital, but I'll let her explain to you why that is."

"Is she okay now?"

"She's out in the garden, but she seems to be okay. We had a chat."

"About what?" Mike asked suspiciously.

"Different things. She was quite the hippy, wasn't she?"

"Pop, what're you asking her?"

"She actually told me that she'd smoke marijuana if it was legal," Mr. Danko said indignantly.

"I know, but you know what? So would I. Can I please talk to Jill?"

Mr. Danko went out and called Jill to the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, baby," Mike smiled at the sound of her voice. "Pop said that you were upset. What's going on?"

"Mike, I think Bobby Sanchez has been calling the hospital looking for me. Mary Lou told me that a man has been calling the hospital five and six times a day since I've been off. It has to be Sanchez."

"Okay, let me talk to Ryker to see what he wants to do. Has anybody said anything to him?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. But Mike, what if somebody does?"

"It'll be okay. I'll talk to Ryker. I understand that Pop's been asking you the tough questions."

"It's okay, Mike. He hasn't asked me anything that I'm not willing to answer. Although I'm sure that he's now convinced that I'm a drug addict."

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you when I get home. I love you."

"I love you, too."

He got off of the phone just as Terry and Willie entered the precinct. "Mike, we were just going to go to lunch," Terry said. "Do you want to join us?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute. I have to talk to Lt. Ryker first," he said as he walked toward the Watch Commander's office.

"What was that all about?" Willie asked as Terry shrugged.

"Come on, let's go to the break room," Terry headed for the stairs as his partner followed him.

In his office, Lt. Ryker listened as Mike repeated what Jill had told him over the phone. "Has anybody seen Sanchez at the hospital?"

"I don't think so."

"I'll assign patrol units to sit outside of your parents' house until he's caught," he picked up the phone. "Older, when you see Gillis and Webster, tell them that I want to see them in my office."

"Sir, they're in the break room getting ready to eat lunch," Mike interjected.

"Then, I'll go and talk to them," Ryker left his office as Mike followed him.

Terry and Willie were in the process of eating lunch when Mike and Lt. Ryker entered the break room. They looked at Mike as both men sat at the table. "Jill was told by a co-worker this morning that someone has been calling the hospital several times a day looking for her. We have reason to believe that person is Roberto Sanchez. So, until Sanchez is caught, I want your unit, and two additional units pulling shifts outside of Danko's parents' house."

"Yes, sir," Terry said as Willie nodded.

"I'll set up a schedule. Come and see me when you get off duty."

"So, how has Jill been?" Terry asked after Ryker left the room.

"So-so," Mike waved his hand from side to side. "She doesn't sleep much, and when she does sleep, she has nightmares. I think having you guys nearby will help a lot."

"I'm not so sure about that," Willie pointed out. "She doesn't always seem too keen on having us around."

"Well, right now she wants to feel safe. You guys will help her feel safe. I have to get back out on patrol," Mike smiled as he got to his feet.

When Mike got home from work, Jill was lying in the swing reading a book with Babette curled up at her feet. He said something to the dog, which jumped down and went underneath the swing. "Your father has a great library," she sat up as he drew her close and kissed her.

"I talked to Ryker about . . . the Bobby Sanchez thing. He's assigned units to sit watch until he's caught. Willie and Terry are going to pull the first shift this evening."

"What if he follows them, Mike?"

"Baby, he's not going to follow them. You're going to be okay."

"Mike, if I'd known that Ryker was going to put people out in front of the house, I wouldn't have said anything! Now, because of me, everybody's going to be in danger!"

"No," he took her hands.

"None of this would've happened if I hadn't come out of hiding!"

"Sweetie, what're you talking about? You didn't come out of hiding. The police found you hiding in the bathtub."

"That was after," she pulled away from him and fled toward the house.

Mike sat there for a couple of minutes before it hit him what she was telling him. "Oh my God," he whispered as he too ran into the house. His mother looked at him in surprise as he ran past her toward the stairs. When he entered the attic bedroom, Jill was nowhere to be seen. "Jill? Baby, where are you?"

He knew that she had to be hiding, but where? He tried to remember his conversation with her from the night before. She'd told him of some of the places where she'd hidden from Cleve. He went back downstairs to where his mother was looking over the dinner table. "Dinner will be ready in 45 minutes, Michael," she said as she looked up.

"Mother, have you seen Jill?"

"She's not still in the garden?"

"She was. I think I know where she is," he said as he went back outside. There was a small potting shed just outside of the patio. He saw that the door was slightly ajar. "Baby, it's okay. Can I come in?"

When he didn't get an answer, he opened the door and stepped into the dark interior. Jill was huddled in a corner with her head on her knees and her arms wrapped over her head. "How much did you see?" He asked as he sat down beside her and slipped an arm around her, pulling her close to him.

"I just wanted to stop him," her voice was muffled against her legs. "I just wanted to make them stop screaming. If they didn't shut up, he was going to find me."

"You came out of hiding?" He guessed as she lifted her head up and nodded.

"It was awful, Mike. I saw . . . Tina was lying in the driveway. I just saw her legs, but he walked over to her and . . . he fired the gun. Then he walked up to two people in the front yard and fired the gun. He shot all of them in the head, didn't he?"

"Yeah," Mike admitted.

"Mike, how many people did he kill? I heard a bunch of gunshots. I know that he either had more than one gun or he reloaded."

"He killed Tina, her two brothers, one of the brothers' friends, and a man and his wife who came from next door when they heard the gunshots. When did you go back into hiding?"

"After he shot one of the people in the yard, he turned toward the house. I got scared that he was going to see me, so I ran and hid. I don't remember too much after that."

Mike glanced at his watch. "We should go get dressed for dinner."

"I'm not hungry. Would it be all right if I just went upstairs to lie down?"

"Yeah, it's okay," he kissed her on top of her head. "Come on, I'll walk upstairs with you."

"I think that I should talk to the police tomorrow," she said as Mike led her into the house.

"How did it go with Dr. Felton?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know," she smiled as they entered the house. "He said he thinks that my nightmares will go away when Sanchez is caught."

"Well, those nightmares will," he squeezed her hand as they walked up the stairs.

"One day the others might, too."

She lay on the bed as Mike took a shower and changed his clothes. "Are you sure that you don't want to join me?" He asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"No, I just want to rest for a while. It's been a stressful day," she smiled as he stroked her cheek.

"I'll bring up some tea when I finish dinner."

"I'd like that," she said as he leaned forward and kissed her.

"How's Jill?" His father asked when he came back downstairs.

"She's upset that Ryker's assigned officers to sit on the house," Mike sighed as he walked over and poured a glass of water.

"Michael, I was thinking," Mike looked at his father. "Maybe he doesn't have to."

"What're you talking about? You work and so do I. It isn't safe to leave three women alone in this house with Sanchez on the loose. He executed those people, Pop. One shot to the torso and a killing shot to the head. That's how he killed _all _of them."

"All I'm saying is I have a state-of-the-art alarm system installed in this house. You're an expert marksman . . . "

"I also work during the day," Mike repeated.

"What if you were to ask for time off? Just until this guy is caught? I'm sure that would make Jill feel a lot more secure."

"I don't know, Pop."

"Michael, I'm sure that the police presence would be better served somewhere else."

"Let me talk to Ryker."

Mike took a deep breath as he walked over to the phone and dialed. He knew that Ryker wasn't going to be pleased. "What do you mean; you want me to call off the patrol?" Ryker roared when Mike told him what he wanted to do.

"My father suggested that I ask for some time off. Sanchez wouldn't be expecting that and it'll make Jill feel safer."

"I don't like it, but okay," Ryker sighed. "Come see me in the morning and sign the paperwork to take some time off."

"Yes, sir."

Upstairs, Jill was watching Mike talking with his two best friends. Undoubtedly they were discussing her. Watching them, she remembered that other house and watching things out of the attic window, much as she was now. The attic was the one place in the house where Cleve would never look for her. There were rats in the attic, and Cleve was scared of rats, which Jill always found sort of amusing. She'd sit in the attic and watch the area around the pool, as Cleve and his cronies got wasted. She'd sit up there as long as she could, but eventually he'd get tired of her hiding, and would threaten her until she reappeared.

She jumped when she heard a light tapping on the door. "Jill, I brought you some tea," Mrs. Danko said from behind the closed door.

"Come in," she called out as her mother-in-law entered the room carrying a tray holding a silver tea pot and two china cups.

"Michael said that he was going to bring you some tea, but he's out front talking to his friends. He said that you were upset."

"I'll be okay. I just didn't think that . . . man would try to find me. I'm scared that he's going to find me here."

"And you worry that he's going to hurt the rest of us?"

"Yes," she whispered as Mrs. Danko poured tea for both of them and handed a cup to Jill.

"My sister told me that the family of a girl that she went to school with was hiding a Jewish family in their cellar. When my sister told my mother what she had learned, my mother told her to never repeat what she'd learned to anybody."

"Why?" Jill asked as Mike entered the room.

"Because knowing that someone was hiding Jews was the same as hiding them yourself," Mike explained as his mother nodded. "If the SS found out that my aunt knew, then my grandmother and my aunts could be taken away, too."

"I was always afraid," Jill looked at Mike as he nodded in understanding. "But, I could never imagine being afraid like that."

"It was like that for everybody in France during World War II. There was no food, and there was always the fear of the SS and the Gestapo. Like I said, my mother was never the same after the war ended. She never trusted again. She always worried that there'd never be enough food. But, you have to believe that you are safe here. Michael would never let anyone hurt you and neither would his father."

"Mama, why don't you let me talk to Jill? I'll bring the tea service down in a little while," he kissed his mother on the cheek as she reluctantly left the room. He waited until he'd heard her footsteps descend on the stairs before kneeling in front of Jill. "Baby, he's not going to get near you. I promise that he'll have to go through me before I let that happen."

"Mike, he had two guns and I don't know how many rounds of ammunition when he shot Tina and the others. How are you going to stop him?"

"Baby, have I ever let anyone hurt you?" His eyes reflected the hurt that he felt at her distrust of him. He'd die before he ever let anyone hurt her. He didn't know how he could convince her of that.

"Can we go back out to the garden and sit in the swing?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, we can do that," he smiled as he took her hand and led her out of the room.

A few minutes later, she contentedly settled into the hollow of Mike's shoulder as he slowly rocked the swing in the fading light of the day. "Ryker called off the patrol," he told her as she looked at him in surprise. "He's going to give me some time off. That way, I can be here with you, mother, and Jean."

"Are you sure that you aren't going to stay here to make sure your mother doesn't tell me any stories about you?" She asked as he grinned and rolled his eyes.

"Like that's going to stop her."

The next morning, Jill brushed her teeth while Mike was in the shower. She then went and climbed back under the covers as she waited for him to come out of the bathroom. She was nervous about going and talking to Ryker, but she knew that the longer she put it off, the harder it was going to be. As with the previous several nights, she'd slept poorly, waking up frequently from nightmares.

"Why are you still in bed?" Mike asked, walking out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. "You need to get up and get dressed."

"Do we have time?" Propping herself up on one elbow, she motioned him toward her with her free hand.

"Well, technically we don't, but we can make time," he smiled, covering her body with his own as she pulled the towel off of him.

A short while later, Jill was clutching Mike's hand tightly in hers as they walked into the precinct. Lt. Ryker spotted them as he came out of his office. "Good morning, Mrs. Danko," he greeted her.

"Good morning," she forced a smile as she took a deep breath.

"Come on, I'll walk with you upstairs. This shouldn't take very long, and then I'll make sure that you get a ride back to your in-laws house."

"I'll wait for you down here," Mike kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she gave him a small smile before following Lt. Ryker upstairs to a small room where they were met by a third man.

"Det. Reynolds, this is Mrs. Danko. Mrs. Danko, this is Det. Reynolds. He's the lead investigator on the Sanchez case. Would you like some coffee before we get started?"

"No, but could I have some water?"

"Certainly. Please have a seat."

"Mrs. Danko, I'm going to tape record our conversation. It's for your protection as well as our own. Is that all right?" The detective asked as Jill nodded. "From this point forward, please verbalize your responses." The detective entered all of the pertinent information into the recorder before turning his attention back to Jill. "How long did you know Christina Sanchez?"

"A few months. We met at work."

"And, where do you work?"

"I'm a nurse at Memorial Hospital."

"When did you learn that Mrs. Sanchez was allegedly being abused by her husband?"

"I don't remember. I noticed bruises on her, and eventually she told me that she was being hit by him."

"What did you do when you found out about her abuse?"

"I told her that she needed to leave. I asked Mike . . . "

"Who is Mike?"

"My husband."

"Her husband is one of my officers," Ryker explained as Reynolds nodded and made notes.

"Go ahead. You said that you told Mike about her situation. What did he tell you?"

"He told me that she shouldn't leave unless she had a plan to get out. He was afraid that her husband would kill her if he found out that she was leaving."

"And, you relayed this information to Mrs. Sanchez?"

"Yes."

"Did she come up with a plan?"

"She made arrangements to stay with a cousin. That's where she was going . . . when everything happened."

"What time did you arrive at Mrs. Sanchez' house that morning?"

"It was around eight o'clock."

"How long were you there when Mr. Sanchez arrived on the scene?"

"I don't know," Jill admitted as her hands began to shake violently.

"Mrs. Danko, do you need a few minutes?" Ryker asked in a gentle voice.

"No," she shook her head.

"How did you know that it was Mr. Sanchez who committed this crime?" Det. Reynolds asked.

"After I heard the first shot, I tried to find a way out of the house. I saw him through the front window."

"What was he doing when you saw him?" Det. Reynolds asked.

Jill took a deep breath as she put her hands over her ears. After about two minutes, she put her hands down and looked across the table at Det. Reynolds as huge tears ran down her face. "He was . . . he was standing over Tina. She was lying by her car. I think . . . she wasn't moving, so I think that she was already dead. He was standing over her and . . . he shot her again in the head. He then walked to the middle of the front yard. There was a man lying in the front yard . . . and he shot him in the head, too. That was when I ran back to the bedroom and got into the tub. I thought he'd seen me through the window."

"Mrs. Danko, I just have a couple of more questions. Do you remember how many shots you heard once you went into hiding?"

"I don't remember anything after I got into the tub. Before that, I think there was eight, maybe 10 gunshots. Can I please go home now?"

"I'll return you to your husband," Lt. Ryker said as he led her out of the room.

"Lieutenant, are you ever going to find him?" She asked as they went down the stairs.

"Believe me, we've got every available officer out there looking for him. We're going to find him," he assured her.

Mike looked up when he saw Jill approaching with Lt. Ryker. "Hi, baby," he kissed her when she walked over to him.

"Danko, come and sign your paperwork to take leave," Ryker said,

"I'll be right back," Mike smiled at Jill. "Sit here and wait for me."

Moments later, Roberto Sanchez sat up straighter in the front seat of the car he'd borrowed from his friend Reuben. He'd parked in the precinct parking lot earlier that morning with the intention of following Danko when he left for home. He smiled when he saw his target walking down the steps with her old man. Keeping a safe distance behind the patrol car, he followed them, stopping down the street from the elder Danko's residence, watching as Danko and his old lady entered the house and closed the door behind them.

Sanchez smiled as he drove past the house, noting the house number as he did. Now all he had to do was hope that the phone number was listed in the phone book. Then, his campaign of terror could really begin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimers: Spelling/Goldberg still hasn't turned 'The Rookies' over to me, so I still don't own them.**

**Summary: Jill continues to see Dr. Felton as Bobby Sanchez ups the ante.**

Chapter 8

"The house where my in-laws live reminds me of the house where I used to stay with him," Jill said from the comfortable sofa in Dr. Felton's office.

"The house where you lived with your ex?" He clarified as Jill nodded. "How so?"

"Mike and I stay in the attic. It's been converted into a sort of apartment with its own bathroom. I used to hide in the attic in that other house. My ex wouldn't go into the attic."

"Why?"

"There were rats in the attic. He was scared of rats," she smiled in memory for a fleeting moment before the smile vanished. "One of the worst beatings he ever gave me was because I dared tease him about his fear."

"You weren't scared of the rats?"

"They never bothered me. I'd sit in the attic for hours, just watching everything that was happening down below."

"What were you watching?"

"Cleve and his friends getting drunk and high."

"Was he worse when he was drunk and high?"

"Do you mean was he more violent? Yeah, he was worse."

"I understand that you gave your statement to the police," Dr. Felton said, changing the subject when he noticed Jill becoming somewhat agitated. "Have the nightmares subsided?"

"No. And, I'm still not sleeping," she got up and walked over to the window.

"Don't the pills that Dr. Travis prescribed help?"

"I don't take them. They make me feel like I'm underwater."

"What does Mike say?"

"He doesn't say anything," she turned back from the window. "When I wake up, he holds me and tries to comfort me. Sometimes . . . sometimes he . . . never mind," she was blushing when she came back to sit down.

"Do you still feel that he's irritated by the nightmares?"

"I don't know. When I was living with Cleve, I never had nightmares. It was only after I got away from him that the nightmares started. I just want to lie down and sleep for at least 24 hours," she sighed, hugging her knees to her chest.

"I think that you will as soon as Sanchez is caught," the doctor said as an alarm went off on his desk. "That's all of our time for today. I'll see you again on Wednesday."

As usual, her father-in-law was waiting for her in the lobby when Jill emerged from the elevator. Mike had agreed to let his father-in-law keep transporting Jill to her appointments while he stayed home with his mother and the maid. She was quiet during most of the ride home, not speaking until just before they got back to the house. "Was Mike ever scared of anything when he was younger?"

"Not that I can remember. Why do you ask?"

"My ex was afraid of rats."

"I have to admit that I'm also not overly fond of rats," he smiled.

"I laughed at him about it in front of some friends one night. So, he slapped me and I fell through a glass table."

Mr. Danko glanced at Jill as she looked at him. It sickened him to hear what she was telling him. "Were you okay?"

"Do you mean did he take me to a hospital? No. I was cut up, but nothing bad enough to need stitches. Besides, I think even if I'd needed stitches, he wouldn't have taken me to a hospital. Doctors ask too many questions. I was taught to avoid doctors and the police from the start."

"Does Michael know about what you went through when you were with him?"

"Mike doesn't know how I got the scars on the back of my legs, but he knows stories that are far worse than the one I just told you," she turned away to stare out of her window.

"Why did you stay with him?"

"I couldn't leave."

"But, eventually you did leave," he reminded her.

"I cut my wrists. The scars that you saw when you first met me were my escape from him."

"Jill, I'm sorry," he looked at her before returning his attention to the road.

"It doesn't matter now. I really don't like talking about why I did what I did."

"Have you ever talked to Michael about what his childhood fears were?" He asked, going back to the first question she'd asked him.

"I don't think Mike's ever been afraid of anything," she said as he laughed.

Jean and Mrs. Danko were in the kitchen when Jill and her father-in-law arrived home a short time later. "Something smells good," Jill said when she came into the room.

"Dinner will be ready soon. I'm going to set the table," Mrs. Danko said.

"I can do that," Jill offered.

"No, you visit with Jean. Make sure she doesn't overcook the asparagus."

"I've never cooked asparagus, so I wouldn't know if you're overcooking it or not," Jill pointed out as the maid laughed. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, miss," Jean said as she checked on a dish in the oven.

"Have you worked for the Danko's for a long time?"

"Almost 25 years, miss," she stirred a pan on the stove.

"So, you knew Michael when he was a boy," Jill smiled.

"Oh, not very well. He was away at school except for Christmas and a few weeks in the summer. But, I do remember that he's very smart. And, he plays piano beautifully."

"Really?" Jill was intrigued by the revelation.

"Oh, yes. His mother said she taught him when he was very small. Ask him to show you. The piano room is downstairs."

Mrs. Danko entered the kitchen as the phone rang. "Jill, could you get that?"

"Hello?" She bit back a sigh of irritation when no one answered her. "Hello?" She repeated.

"You didn't think that you could hide from me forever, did you?"

Mrs. Danko looked toward the phone when she heard a strange noise. "Jill, what's wrong?" She noticed that her daughter-in-law's hand was shaking so badly that she was having trouble holding onto the phone. "Jill, are you all right?"

Mike was in his father's study reading when he heard his name frantically being called. He dropped his book and raced out to find his mother calling up the stairs for him. "Mother, what's going on?"

"Jill . . . she's very upset." After that, she reverted to rapid fire French as Mike tried to follow what she was saying. Something about the telephone.

"Shit!" Mike shouted as his father came downstairs.

Roberto Sanchez could hear a woman in the background. He assumed that it was Danko's mother. He grinned as he thought about how terrified his quarry must be. She hadn't said a word since answering the phone. "Who is this?" A strange male voice came onto the line. Sanchez quickly hung up the phone. "I think that man was on the phone," Mr. Danko told Mike. "When I got on the phone, he hung up."

"Michael, go take care of Jill. I think she went up to your room," his mother said.

"Pop, do me a favor," Mike said, grabbing a pad by the phone. "Call this number and ask for Lt. Ryker. Tell him what you just told me. Let me go see about Jill."

When Mike entered the attic bedroom, Jill was throwing her clothes into an open suitcase. "I told you that he was going to find me!" She said as she continued tossing clothes into the suitcase.

"Baby, what're you doing?"

"I can't stay here! There's nowhere left to hide!"

"Baby, we're going to call Lt. Ryker. We'll figure something out," he tried to take her hand as she wrenched free of him.

"What is he going to do? Assign cops to watch the house again? I already feel like I'm living in an armed fortress with the alarm system and your father's gun collection! Mike, this isn't fair to us and it isn't fair to your parents! Why did I go over there that day? You warned me to butt out! Why didn't I listen to you?"

"Baby, listen to me," he walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "You were doing the same thing that I would've done if it had been one of my friends. What happened that day was going to happen whether you were there or not."

"I know that. But, I _was_ there."

"Baby, where are you going to go?" He asked, indicating the opened suitcase.

"I was thinking that we could go to Amanda's."

"Yeah, we could go to Amanda's," Mike said in agreement as he sat on the edge of the bed. "But, what about Tori?"

"What about her?" She looked at him in confusion.

"Jill, you wake up screaming in the middle of the night on a regular basis. How do you think Tori is going to react to that? I want you to think about that, and I want you to think about this; if we leave, do you think Sanchez is really going to leave my parents alone? He's going to call here, wanting to know where we've gone. I don't think he's going to believe my mother when she tells him that she doesn't know."

"Mike, he's going to find me and when he does . . . "

"Baby, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I wouldn't be able to bear it if I was to lose you," he got up and pulled her against him, as she gradually relaxed.

"That's your fear, isn't it?" Her voice was muffled against his chest.

"What do you mean?"

"I was asking your father if you were afraid of anything when you were younger. Cleve was afraid of rats."

"Losing you is the one thing that I've always been afraid of," she stiffened once again when they heard the doorbell ring. "Hold on and I'll see who it is. I really don't think Sanchez would be stupid enough to just show up." He walked over to the window and looked down toward the street. "It looks like Lt. Ryker. Come on, let's go downstairs."

Lt. Ryker was talking to Mike's parents in the living room when Mike and Jill came downstairs. "I was just talking to your in-laws," Ryker said as Jill sat down on the edge of an ottoman as Mike stood next to her. "Are you sure that it was Sanchez?"

"Do you mean did he say his name over the phone? No, but he asked me if I thought that I could hide from him forever. Right now, he's the only person that I happen to be hiding from!"

"How long was he on the phone?"

"I don't know."

"It was just a few minutes," Mrs. Danko said. "Do you know when you're going to find him?"

"We're working on it, Mrs. Danko."

"Do you want to know something, Lieutenant?" Jill glared at the older man. "I don't know about my mother-in-law, but I'm getting really tired of hearing that every time we ask about the search for him."

With that, she got up and left the room. Mike sighed as he sat down on the vacated ottoman. "I'm sorry, sir. She's having a rough time."

"Danko, we're using every resource that we have to find Sanchez."

"Yes, sir. I know that, sir."

Mike didn't say anything more as he walked Ryker to the front door. "Danko, I understand that your wife is frustrated."

"She's also scared."

"I understand that, too. We're doing everything that we can to find him before he hurts anybody else. Go take care of her," Ryker said as he left the house.

Mike closed the door and turned to find his father watching him. "I think Jill went back out to the garden," he said as he followed Mike back to the kitchen. "Your mother has been holding dinner."

"Okay. I'll talk to her, and then we'll get ready," Mike opened the back door and walked out to the swing, where he found Jill idly swinging back and forth. "Ryker says he understands that you're frustrated."

"Frustrated doesn't begin to cover it. Mike, I want to go home. Home to the apartment."

"Babe . . . "

"Mike, he knows that I'm here. At least if we're at home, I'll have access to your gun."

"I don't want you thinking about that right now."

"Mike, I want to go home. I want to sleep in my own bed."

"Okay, but can we at least eat dinner first? Pop said that mother's been keeping dinner for a while now. Let's go get changed and then I'll take us home."

As he expected, his parents protested the decision to go back to the apartment. "Jill, what do I tell that awful man if he calls here again?" Mrs. Danko asked.

"You can tell him the truth. You can also tell him that Mike is with me. That might give him pause before he attacks me," Jill said as she moved food around her plate. "Maybe he'll slip up and Mike can kill him."

"Jill . . . " Mr. Danko started to speak, but Mike shook his head, so he didn't say anything more.

"Please don't think that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do," she gave him a slight smile, "but if I stay here, eventually it's not going to be just me that he comes after. I've already caused the death of one person that I care about. I can't do that to anybody else," she threw her napkin down on the table and fled from the room.

"She blames herself for what happened to that poor girl?" His mother whispered.

"It's a long story, but she didn't want to see a repeat of what happened to her," Mike explained.

"He was awful to her, wasn't he?" Mike looked at his father. "She told me today that he knocked her into a table one time when she laughed at him."

"Pop, you have no idea of just how awful he was," Mike got up from the table. "I think I'll go see about Jill."

Jill was standing at the window staring into the street below when Mike came in. He walked behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, pulling her against him. "You do know that what happened to Tina wasn't your fault, don't you?"

"I shouldn't have told her to leave," she choked out. "You and Terry were right. She was safe as long as she stayed where she was."

"Can I ask you a question? After you left him, when was the first time that you felt safe?"

Jill smiled at the question. She knew that Mike knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her. "When I called you at three in the morning, and you came running without asking any questions or complaining about how early it was. That was the morning when I knew that I was in love with you."

"You know that I will always make sure that you are safe. We're going to find him, Jill, and when we do, he's going to go away for a very long time."

"Can we please go home now?" She turned toward him.

"Yeah, go down and say goodbye to my folks while I get our bags," he kissed her lightly on the lips before she left the room.

As he picked up their bags, he thought that maybe going home was a better option. For even though Sanchez was still out there, Jill was never going to be safer than she'd be in an apartment complex where several police officers resided.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimers: I don't own 'The Rookies.' Only the storylines are 100 percent mine.**

**Summary: Jill opens up to Terry about some of her past life while the police begin to close in on Sanchez.**

**Author's Note: 'Alabama Song' by The Doors is my favorite Doors song, so I had to mention it in this chapter. **

**This is also an M rated chapter, so be warned.**

Chapter 9

It was a Friday night, a few nights after Mike and Jill had returned to their apartment. In those few nights, nothing had changed. Jill was still barely sleeping at night, despite the constant presence of Mike. It had been her idea to invite Terry and Willie over for the evening. They were sitting around the table playing cards, but Jill was so exhausted that she could barely keep her eyes opened.

"Can I say something?" Terry looked at Jill, who stared back at him. "You look awful."

"Thanks, Terry. You look wonderful, too."

"Jill, I'm serious. When's the last time that you got any sleep?"

"Please don't ask her that," Mike groaned as he rubbed his face with his hands.

"I think I was 14," she got up and walked over to the couch.

"I warned you not to ask," Mike looked at his friend, who looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Has he called since you've come back home?" Willie asked, referring to Sanchez.

"No," Jill rubbed her eyes. "I think that he's watching the apartment, so he knows that Mike's here with me."

"One of the detectives might have a lead on where he might be," Terry said as Jill looked at him expectantly. "He has a couple of old army buddies that live out here. They think he might be with one of them."

"When will they know?" Jill asked.

"I don't know, Jill. In a day or two, maybe a little more. Det. Reynolds said they hope to have him in custody by the beginning of next week."

"But, they're sure that's where he is?" Mike asked him.

"I don't think they're sure of anything, but he's not with any family. Willie and I were the ones who told them to check out his friends. Willie said he'd turn to his friends if family couldn't help."

"Uh, I'm not ever hiding either of you if you're on the lam," Jill said as she got up and left the room.

"Maybe this was a bad idea, Mike," Terry pointed out.

"No, it wasn't a bad idea. When she told me this morning that she wanted to invite you guys over, she told me that she just wanted to feel 'normal' for a little while. 'Normal' has been something that has been sorely lacking in her life."

"Mike, hopefully we'll catch this creep soon," Willie vowed as Mike nodded.

All three men turned toward the doorway as Jill re-emerged from the bedroom. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was the one who invited the two of you over."

"Hey," Terry smiled at her, "you're exhausted. I didn't mean to insult you. I'm just worried about you. We both are," he said, including Willie in his assessment. "Why don't you try to get some rest, and we'll get together as soon as Sanchez is behind bars?"

"Okay," she nodded as her and Mike walked them to the door. After Mike closed the door, she turned toward him. "Do I really look that bad?"

"No, but then I'm prejudiced where you're concerned," he smiled as he pulled her closer. "You just look very tired."

"That's because I _am _very tired."

"Well, I happen to have a remedy for that," he kissed her forehead. "Let's go to bed."

"I don't sleep anymore, Mike. You know that."

"Then, we'll go to bed and I'll regale you with boring stories of my life in the army until you go to sleep," he threatened as she began giggling.

"Will you play piano for me one day?"

"Now, who told you that I play piano?" He asked as he tightened his arms around her.

"A little bird."

"One day soon I promise that I will play piano for you. But, I should warn you that I'm very rusty."

"I don't care," she smiled as he kissed her.

"You'll change your mind once you hear me. Come on, I'm taking you to bed," he took her by the hand and led her toward their bedroom.

"Promises, promises," she challenged as he stopped.

"Did you really just challenge me?" He turned toward her.

"You can call it anything that you want, Officer Danko. I'm so exhausted that I don't know what I'm saying."

As he looked at her, it was easy to believe that much was true. She looked much the same way she had the first time he'd ever seen her. The circles under her eyes were so prominent that it looked as if someone had blackened them. "I really want you to take one of those pills that Dr. Travis gave you. You need to sleep, or you are going to start hallucinating."

"Great, I'll feel like I did when I used to drop acid," she let go of his hand and walked ahead of him into their bedroom. "Did I ever tell you why I stopped taking drugs?"

"No."

"I only dropped acid a handful of times. The first couple of times it was kind of cool. It seemed to make every color brighter. But, one night the bikers were there and someone had brought the new Led Zeppelin album." At one time Mike remembered her telling him how much she disliked the band. "It felt like it was so loud that my eardrums were about to burst. Then, it was like it was talking to me. But, I didn't like what it was telling me."

"What was it saying to you?" He asked as he came and sat beside her on the bed.

"No, I can't talk about that right now. I took Quaaludes for a long time, though," she looked at him. "Probably for the better part of a year, maybe a little longer. The 'Ludes made it easier when Cleve . . . it made it seem like I wasn't really there. I used to wash them down with Johnny Walker, because that's what I drank all of the time. But, one night Ace . . . he was one of the bikers, he found his old lady face down in the bathtub. She also used to take 'Ludes and alcohol. They all said that she drowned, but I know she didn't really. I never took another one after that. But, the pot didn't help and the Johnny Walker didn't help," she wiped at the tears on her face as she looked at Mike.

"If I could erase all of your pain from those days with him, I would," he wiped her face with his fingertips.

"You've taken away most of it," she put her hands over his. "I don't like taking those pills, Mike. I know that I need to sleep, but they make me feel like I'm pushing a rock uphill the next day. I hate that feeling. Can I ask you a question?" He nodded as she continued holding onto his hands. "I know that Lt. Ryker has been calling. He wants you to go back on duty, doesn't he?"

"He pointed out two things," he took her hands and pulled them into his lap. "One, I'm almost out of personal time and two, we live in a complex full of cops. He said that he'll fix my upcoming schedule so that one or both of the guys are home."

"When do you go back on duty?"

"Sunday."

"Terry and Willie are off?"

"I think Terry is."

"That's good," she said as Mike stared at her. "I mean, he's right next door. If I screamed, he'd hear me, right?"

"Yeah, and he'd be the first to kick in the door," he said as she smiled.

"Can I ask another question?" She looked at him shyly as he once again nodded. "You said something earlier about taking me to bed."

"Uh-huh," he acknowledged.

"Well, we're not at your parents' house anymore, so we can be as noisy as we want," she pulled him toward her as she fell backwards onto the bed.

Lying fully clothed on top of her, he could see the desire in her dark eyes. While they had been at his parents' house, their lovemaking had been gentle and quick. He had a feeling that there wasn't going to be anything gentle or quick about tonight. They kissed hungrily, their tongues dueling as he snaked his hand under her shirt, reaching up to touch her breasts through her bra as she groaned her approval.

Her need for him bordered on fierce as she wrapped her arms around him, pressing him even closer to her as she reached down to pull his shirt from the waistband of his jeans so that she could reach her hands underneath, feeling the warmth of his bare skin under her questing fingers. Sometimes she felt that she could never get enough of the way that he felt. To her, he was far more addictive than the drugs she'd taken while with Cleve. "You feel so good," she whispered against his neck as she lightly stroked his back.

"So do you," he kissed her neck, lightly nipping the tender skin as he continued teasing her breasts through her bra.

She broke contact long enough to unbutton his shirt and impatiently yanked it from his torso as he assisted her. "Slow down," he cautioned her. "We have all night."

"I don't want to slow down," she hissed as she reached down to unbuckle his belt.

"Why don't you let me help you and things might speed up a little?" He stood up, and removed the rest of his clothes before helping her out of hers. "Is that better?" He asked after they were both naked and he'd moved back to once again gather her into his arms.

"Much," she smiled as she pulled his head down toward her. "There's just one problem."

"Only one?" He teased. "And, what would that be?"

"I'm a little cold."

Reaching over her, he grabbed the throw from the end of the bed and pulled it over both of them. "Better?"

"Not quite."

"You're still cold?"

"Uh-uh," she shook her head as she reached for his hand. "Now I need for you to touch me."

"And where would you like for me to touch you?" His voice was a seductive whisper in the quiet bedroom.

"Everywhere. I want to forget everything that I've told you tonight."

"Okay, I think that I can handle that," he kissed her as he let his hand travel down to her breasts, teasing her nipples with his fingers before moving down and following suit with his lips and tongue.

She wrapped her fingers into his hair as he continued his assault on her senses. Every pull of his lips on her nipple sent sparks of lightning down to her pelvis. All she wanted right now was to lose herself to the mastery of his touch, and so far, she was succeeding. All she felt was overwhelming need as he continued to tease her breasts, alternating from one to the other.

Moving back up, Mike once again claimed her lips with his own, drowning out her cries of passion as he kissed her. As he continued to ravish her mouth, he reached his hand down between her legs. She jumped and cried out into his mouth as he touched her, gently at first, and then harder, stopping just short of making her come.

She opened her eyes and stared at him, her breathing ragged with desire. His own eyes were burning with an intensity that she hadn't seen before. Without saying a word, she reached down and took him into her hand, slowly moving up and down his hard shaft the way she knew he liked. The sounds that he was making low in his throat told her that she was on the right track.

Still without speaking, he removed her hand and kissed her once again as he moved into position over her. "Yes," she hissed as he thrust deep inside of her, his sudden entry jarring her senses.

As he moved into her, fast and deep, Jill let her hands wander all over his body, lightly scoring his back with her nails as he continued to move. He felt her muscles tighten around him as she came hard, screaming out his name. He then slowed down to give her time to recover before moving full tilt once again.

As Mike began to thrust into her faster once again, Jill could feel the tension building up inside of her once again. She didn't come more than once very often, but when she did, it was usually earth-shattering. Her first orgasm had been so intense, she didn't see how her next one could be even more so. But, when the tension in her body erupted, she cried out against his shoulder as the pleasure seemed to go on and on for what seemed like forever.

Hearing her fervent cries against his shoulder was all the encouragement that Mike needed. "Baby, I love you!" He cried out as he pushed into her one more time as he reached his climax.

Feeling sweat-soaked and exhausted, Jill felt him soften as Mike slowly moved up so that he could look down at her. "Are you okay?" He asked, as he brushed her hair tenderly from the sides of her face.

"I may never move again, but I'm wonderful," she smiled as they shared a long tender kiss. She groaned when she felt him start to stir against her inner thigh. "Mike, I don't think I can take another round."

"I know," he kissed her all over her face before sitting up on the bed. "I'm going to go take a shower. Would you care to join me?"

"Will you keep your hands to yourself?"

"I'll keep my hands to myself. You're not the only one who's worn out. Come on," he threw the throw off of them before helping her to her feet.

Lying in bed later, Jill stroked Mike chest, occasionally touching the St. Christopher that he always wore. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmmm," he murmured drowsily.

"Never mind. It'll keep," she kissed his cheek as he opened his eyes.

"What's on your mind?"

"Why is it that when I get like . . . like I did a while ago, that I always seem to think that sex is the answer?"

"When I took psychology, I learned that people make love for different reasons. People use sex for procreating, for recreation, and sometimes because you want and need to feel the closeness of that other person. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. It's just that . . . sometimes when I want you like that, it makes me feel . . . strange, I guess."

"You're thinking of those old aunts of yours, aren't you?"

"I guess," she sighed as he tightened his arm around her.

"Let me guess. You were taught that you're not supposed to enjoy sex, but sometimes you feel guilty because you do." He looked at her as she nodded.

As she snuggled into his chest, she thought about all of the things that Mike had shown her and taught her. She knew that her old aunts would be mortified if they knew that not only did their niece enjoy sex, but there were times when it was all that she thought about. With that last thought swirling through her head, she closed her eyes and went to sleep, knowing that she'd once again be wide awake in two hours, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. These days she felt that the physical closeness of Mike was the only thing that was keeping her sane.

The next morning, Willie and Terry had just entered the precinct when they heard an all too familiar voice calling their names. "Gillis! Webster! In my office right now!" Ryker called out from the doorway of the Watch Commander's office.

"So, what did you do this time?" Terry looked at his partner.

"Me? How do we know he isn't mad at you?" Willie answered back as they walked into Ryker's office and closed the door.

"Danko's coming back on duty tomorrow," the lieutenant said without preamble. "Until Sanchez is caught, I want at least one of you near the Danko's apartment. Webster, you'll be off tomorrow and Monday. Gillis, you'll be off Tuesday and Wednesday. If either of you hear anything, call immediately. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," both men answered.

"Sir, why is Mike coming back on duty?" Willie asked. "I thought he was told to stay with Jill until this guy's caught."

"If you must know, he's almost out of personal time. So, unless he wants to stay home without being paid, he's going to come back to work. Are there any more questions?" When neither man answered, he waved his arm dismissively.

"Do you have a problem riding with Mike?" Terry asked when they left the office and walked toward the locker room.

"No, except I don't have anything to talk about when I ride with him."

Terry laughed as they went to get dressed.

The next morning, Jill made Mike's lunch for work as he got dressed in the bedroom. She couldn't help but wonder if Sanchez would start calling once Mike left the apartment. If he did, then that would prove her theory that he was watching her. She had an appointment with Dr. Felton for Wednesday. She decided that she liked talking to the psychiatrist. She was able to discuss things with him that she could never talk to Mike about. She looked toward the doorway as Mike came walking out, buttoning his shirt. "I worry about leaving you," he said, walking into the kitchen and pulling her into his arms.

"I'll be okay," she smiled. "After all, Terry's right next door and like you said, he'll kick the door in if he suspects anything's wrong."

"Keep the door locked and don't open it to anybody that you don't know," he instructed her as she nodded. "If you need anything, call. If I'm out, Ryker or somebody will find me."

"Okay. You'll call me at lunchtime?"

"Of course," he smiled, kissing her longingly as the doorbell rang. "That sounds like my ride."

Jill walked over to the door and looked through the peephole before opening the door to Willie. "Hi. Is Mike ready to roll?"

"Yeah," Mike called out. "I'll meet you downstairs."

"Okay, I'll see you down there," he said as he turned and left.

"Please be careful," she smoothed her hands over his shirt.

"I will. After all, I have a lot to be careful for. I love you and I'll talk to you in a few hours."

"I love you, too," she kissed him one last time before closing the door behind him.

As soon as he left, she locked all of the locks and slid the safety chain into place before turning around and leaning heavily against the door, taking slow, deep breaths to stop the waves of panic that began sweeping over her. She'd often had the same sensations after Mike had gone overseas the last time. That awful feeling that she'd never see him again.

After the feeling receded, she looked around the apartment. Since she had the place to herself, she decided that she might as well clean. The apartment hadn't had a thorough cleaning in several weeks. It just seemed that there was never time with both of them working and when they had time off together, the last thing that she wanted to do was vacuum and dust.

She put on one of her Van Morrison albums and pulled out the vacuum cleaner. She was so busy with her cleaning that she didn't hear the doorbell ring later that morning. It was only when the pounding on the door started that she turned off the vacuum, her heart pounding in terror. "Jill, it's Terry! Are you okay?" She let out her breath as she walked over to the door.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear the door," she apologized when she opened the door.

"Mike told me to watch out for you," he said as he stepped into the apartment.

"That doesn't mean that you have to come over and babysit," she said petulantly as she walked over and sat down on the sofa.

"Is that what it feels like? Is that how you felt when you were staying with your in-laws?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little out of sorts. Would you like some coffee? I can make a fresh pot," she offered.

"No, that's okay," he sat down in an armchair as they stared at each other for a few minutes. "So, how was it staying with Mike's parents? He told me one day that his old man isn't exactly your biggest fan."

"It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. So, you guys talk a lot when you ride together?" She looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Well, we have to have something to do to kill eight hours," he grinned. "Let me guess. You want to know what he tells me about you."

As she looked at her husband's friend, she couldn't help but wonder just how much Mike had disclosed about her. "Has he told you how we met?"

"Not much. He just said that he met you his first night in Alabama."

"That's all he said?" She looked at him suspiciously.

"Yeah, pretty much. Why?"

"I was just wondering. I knew that I was going to marry him the first time I ever saw him. But, I didn't like him," she smiled as Terry laughed.

"How did you know that you were going to marry him if you didn't even like him?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I can't explain it any better than that. He kind of swooped in on his white horse and rescued me."

"Did you need rescuing?"

"Oh, yeah."

"What did you need to be rescued from, Jill?" He asked as she stiffened up. "I'm sorry, I know it's not any of my business. Can I ask one thing? Does it have anything to do with the comment that you made the other night?"

"What comment?"

"About not sleeping since you were 14. Mike warned me not to ask you when you'd last slept."

"I know that I need to sleep," she rubbed her face. "It's just that when I go to sleep, I have the most awful nightmares."

"About Tina and the others?"

"Yes, but also about a lot of other things that I can't talk about."

"Isn't there anything that you can tell me?"

"I can't. I'm sorry, Terry."

"That's okay. Your past life isn't any of my business. But, can I tell you one thing about Mike?" He looked at her as she nodded. "He's so in love with you that it's almost sickening at times."

"I used to live with someone who wasn't very nice to me," she got up and began walking around the room. "He had these friends who were in a motorcycle club."

"They were in a gang?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Anyway, one of the bikers was a guy named Bear. One night he saw my ex old man knock me across the room," she looked at Terry as he visibly winced. "Bear came up to me later and offered to 'take care' of my old man for me."

"What was your reaction?"

"It wasn't that I didn't appreciate the offer, but I told him no."

"Does Mike know about him?"

"Who? My ex old man or the bikers?"

"Both."

"He knows most of my stories about my ex old man. He doesn't know quite as much about the bikers."

"It must've been like a breath of fresh air to be with someone like Mike who'd never hurt you."

"Growing up, all of the men that I was around were like my ex old man. It was the way that they were all raised. So, when I first started seriously dating Mike, I'd pick a fight with him to try to see what he would do."

"What would he do?" Terry asked.

"Nothing. He'd turn and walk away. It took me a long time to realize that he'd never hit me." She looked up at him. "Can I ask you a question? Did Mike say anything about my going over there that day?"

"If you're asking if he was angry, he never said anything to me. What makes you think he's angry?"

"A few days before, when I told him that I was going to go over to help Tina, he got angry. He told me to tell her that he forbade it. I told him that he wasn't being fair."

"He told me that he was worried about you getting too involved with what was going on. Now that you've told me a little about your ex old man, I understand why he was worried."

"I wish that I hadn't gone over there," she looked down at her lap once again, "but then I keep remembering how much I wished someone had helped me."

"Jill, what happened was going to happen. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Mike said that, too."

"You have to stop blaming yourself," he said in a gentle voice.

"I wish that I could, but I can't."

Det. Reynolds had given Mike and Willie the address of a few of Sanchez' old army buddies. They struck out with the first two, but hit pay dirt with number three. "Jerry Cantu?" Mike asked when the man answered the door.

"I'm Jerry," the man confirmed.

"I'm Officer Danko and this is my partner, Officer Gillis. We're with the SCPD. We were wondering if you've heard from Roberto Sanchez. We were told that you were in the army together."

"Yeah, we served a hitch in 'Nam. Bobby's been staying here," Jerry admitted as Mike and Willie stared at each other.

"You do know that he's wanted for questioning in the shooting deaths of his wife and her family?" Willie asked him.

"I saw it on the news. I asked Bobby about it and he told me that it was all a misunderstanding. He said that he didn't do it."

Mike couldn't believe what he was hearing. Surely this guy standing in front of them couldn't possibly be that stupid. "When's the last time that you saw him?" Mike asked.

"This morning. I work during the day and my old lady doesn't want him staying here when we're at work. I got off early, so I came home. He should be home after five or so. I can tell him that you're looking for him," he offered as the two cops exchanged a look.

"Uh, Mr. Cantu, we'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell him that we came by," Willie said.

"Why? If he didn't do what he's accused of, then he can clear it all up."

"Yeah, I'm sure that he's going to want to 'clear it all up,'" Mike said sarcastically as he and Willie went back to their car.

"Hey, Mike?" Willie asked as he got into the passenger seat. "Was it just me or was that the stupidest man on the face of the earth?"

"Quite possibly," Mike laughed as he started the car.

"My dad always used to say that prisons are full of innocent men."

"Well, mine is fond of saying don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Well, at least we know Sanchez _was _here. I don't think he will be after this afternoon."

"Jill was in a situation like that at one time, wasn't she?" Willie asked.

"Willie, I really can't talk about that," Mike said as he drove toward the precinct.

"It's just that all of the pieces fit."

"Jill thought she was helping a friend out of a tough spot. We tried to warn her that it could backfire on her. I just didn't think that it would backfire like this."

"She's still not sleeping, huh?" Willie guessed.

"Nope," Mike sighed. "And, when she doesn't sleep, I don't sleep. It's making for some very long nights."

"Well, there are ways to pass the time," Willie grinned at his friend.

"Yes, there are," Mike laughed. "Let's go to lunch. I need to check in with Jill and make sure she's okay."

When the phone rang shortly after 12 noon, Jill was feeling somewhat annoyed. She wanted to do laundry, but Terry insisted that he accompany her to the laundry room. "Hello?" She answered the phone in a somewhat short tone of voice.

"Hi," Mike's familiar voice came over the line. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but would you tell your friend to let me breathe."

"What're you talking about?"

"I'm trying to do housework, but Terry won't let me go downstairs to the laundry room alone. How am I supposed to get anything done when I have an escort with me?"

"Jill, we talked about this. Until Sanchez is caught, you're going to have shadows. That's just the way it has to be. If you hold off on the laundry until I get home, then I can go down there with you. You don't mind having me tag along, do you?"

"If I wait until you get home, there aren't going to be any machines."

"Well, those are your choices."

"Are you going to make Willie take me to my appointment with Dr. Felton on Wednesday?"

"No. I already told you that I'd leave you the car. Jill, I know you think that I'm treating you like a child, but this is for your own safety."

"Have you found him?"

"No, but we do know where he's staying. I'm just not sure he's going to be there later this afternoon."

"I have to go. I have clothes in the dryer, so I need to call Terry."

"Babe?"

"What?"

"I love you," he said, hoping to lighten her mood.

"I love you, too. I'll see you this afternoon."

She hung up, feeling more depressed and trapped than before he'd called. He didn't understand that having Terry shadow her made her feel much the same way she'd felt in that house, with Cleve following her every move. She couldn't even go to the bathroom without him being two steps behind her. She felt like screaming at the top of her lungs. Instead, she picked the receiver back up and dialed Terry and Willie's number.

Jill was sitting in one of the chairs on the balcony, listening to the distant rumble of thunder in the distance. The sky had started darkening shortly after four o'clock, but the rain hadn't arrived yet, although the air smelled heavily of it. She turned around when she heard the sound of the front door.

"What're you doing out here?" Mike asked as he came outside and knelt down beside her chair.

"Waiting for the rain," she smiled as he kissed her.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I never stay mad at you for long."

"I'm sorry if Terry made you a little crazy. I'll talk to him. Are you hungry? Maybe we could go out and grab a bite to eat," he suggested.

"It's going to rain soon. I don't want to get caught in the rain," she got up and went into the apartment.

"Are you okay?" He asked, following her inside and closing the sliding door behind him. She turned toward him with her arms crossed over her chest. One look at her face told him that her past was trying to once again draw her back into its grasp. He walked over to her and pulled her close. "One day soon I promise that you're going to feel safe again."

She didn't say anything as he held her. She just hoped that what he was saying was the truth.

Jerry Cantu and his wife Carol were just sitting down to dinner when Bobby Sanchez arrived back at their house that afternoon. He'd been staying with them for the past five days, much to Carol Cantu's dismay. Unlike her husband, there was no doubt in her mind that her husband's friend had done the exact thing that the paper and television was accusing him of. She'd been begging Jerry to kick him out, but Jerry kept talking about loyalty and brotherhood.

"Where do you go all day?" Jerry asked after supper was over and the two men were drinking a beer at the table while Carol washed dishes.

"Around," Bobby answered vaguely as he drank his beer.

"Bobby, the police came around this afternoon looking for you."

"What did you tell them?"

"I couldn't lie to them," he said as Bobby glared at him. "Man, what's the big deal? So, they come back and ask you some questions. You told me that you didn't do it. Just tell them that and it'll all go away."

"Are you really that fucking stupid? It's not going to go away. I need to see about someone," he said as he got up and stormed out of the house.

"Jerry, I don't want him back in this house," Carol said vehemently.

"I'll take care of it. Just relax."

"You told me once that Mike was trying to fix things," Dr. Felton reminded Jill during their visit that Wednesday afternoon. "What things is he trying to fix?"

"Mike was in the Army when we first met," Jill recounted. "I tried to adjust to being an Army wife, but it was so hard. I guess he knew how unhappy I was because after he finished his last tour in Vietnam, he got out."

"That must've made you very happy."

"It would have if I'd known about it. When he got out, he didn't return home to me. Instead, he entered the police academy. I didn't see him until after he'd graduated."

"And you were angry?" He guessed.

"I was beyond angry. He's still trying to fix things."

"So, do you think he's mad because you tried to help Tina?"

"He won't admit it, but we had a fight about it a few days before. I asked one of his friends about it the other day."

"What did his friend say?"

"He said that if Mike was mad, he didn't say anything to him about it."

"Do you believe the friend?"

"They talk about everything when they ride in a car together, so I guess I believe him. But, maybe he was afraid if he told his friend, the friend would tell me."

"When I met Mike in the hospital, he didn't come across as an angry spouse. He came across as being very concerned about you. He didn't even want to leave your bedside to talk to me."

"I know my not sleeping is wearing on him," she sighed.

"Jill, taking a sleeping pill now and then isn't going to turn you into an addict. Is that what you're worried about?"

"I don't like how I feel after I take them."

"Was this the way that you were when you were in that other house?"

"I didn't sleep there, either."

"Did your sleeping improve once you were back with Mike for good?"

Jill looked at the doctor as she began to think. She hadn't slept well when she'd first started sleeping with Mike, but that changed after a little while. She still didn't sleep deeply, but she could sleep as long as she knew Mike was beside her in bed. "I'm okay as long as I can reach out during the night and touch him."

"Are you afraid that he's not going to be able to wake up and protect you if Sanchez were to get near you?"

"Before I met Mike, I didn't know what it was like to be safe. He made me feel safe until this happened."

"Jill, believe me when I tell you that Mike will protect you if it comes down to that. You just have to keep telling yourself that."

Driving home, Jill popped her Doors tape into the 8-track player and skipped it to Track 2 and her favorite song on the tape. It was entitled 'Alabama Song' and it never failed to remind her of when she'd met Mike.

She was still smiling as she walked upstairs to the apartment. Her smile instantly vanished, however, when she unlocked the front door and was brutally pushed into the apartment from behind. She turned to find Bobby Sanchez staring at her, a look of utter madness all over his face. She glanced down to find herself staring into the barrel of the gun he was holding. "I knew that I'd catch you alone sooner or later."

Next door, Willie heard Jill enter the apartment, but something had caught his attention. He just wasn't sure exactly what it was. He decided to go see if she was okay.

Jill and Sanchez were still staring each other down when the doorbell rang. "Get rid of whoever it is," he warned her. "No tricks."

"Who is it?" Jill asked through the closed door.

Willie made a face as he stood there. What was she talking about? He knew that Jill always looked through the peephole. "It's Willie, Jill. Are you okay?"

Standing there, Jill knew that she had to let Willie know that she was in trouble without alerting Sanchez to that fact. "I'm fine, Willie. I'm really not in the mood to listen to stories of yours' and my husband's adventures in Vietnam."

Vietnam? Was she crazy? And, then it occurred to him that Jill was letting him know that she was in trouble. "Okay, Jill. Tell Mike that I'll come by later."

"Good girl," Sanchez praised her, motioning with his gun for her to go into the living room.

Lt. Ryker was in his office when his phone buzzed. "Yeah?" He barked into the device.

"Lieutenant, Gillis is on line two. He says it's important that he talk to you."

"Okay," Ryker pushed the blinking light on his phone. "What's going on, Gillis?"

"Sir, I think Jill's in trouble. I went to check on her and she told me that she didn't have time to listen to tales of my adventures in Vietnam with her husband. The thing is, sir, I didn't serve in Vietnam. I was in college."

"Gillis, can you check the parking lot for Sanchez' Mustang?"

"Yes, sir. Let me check and I'll call you back." Within moments, Ryker's phone rang again. "His car is in the parking lot."

"Okay. Don't do anything stupid, Gillis. I've got units on the way."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimers: Boring! Do I really still need to say that I don't own 'The Rookies.' I guess that I do, so I am.**

**Summary: The showdown between Jill and Sanchez reaches its inevitable conclusion.**

**Author's notes: I tried to think of a way to segue this chapter with the first chapter so that it makes some kind of sense. I think I've finally figured it out.**

**I'm also going to borrow a line from a 'Scarecrow and Mrs. King' episode which ties in with Jill going for so long with so little sleep.**

**Also, I apologize if the scene at the end veers off a little like a certain book with a number and a color in the title, but guess what somebody's been reading? This chapter is rated M for a very good reason, so if you're under 18, quit reading now!**

Chapter 10

12:30 P.M.

Jill sat on the sofa, watching as Roberto Sanchez paced back and forth in front of her, all the while waving his revolver around. She hoped that Willie had gotten the hint that she needed the police. While she liked her husband's new friend very much, at times he seemed to need things spelled out for him. "Why were you helping Christina?" Sanchez finally broke the silence in the room. "Why couldn't you have just minded your own business?"

"She needed my help," Jill whispered.

"No, she didn't!" He roared as she visibly jumped. "We were working things out. We were talking about having a baby. A baby would've made everything better."

"You didn't think she'd leave you if she had a baby?"

"Yeah, a baby would've made everything better," he repeated, ignoring her question. He pointed the gun at her when the phone began to ring. "Ignore it!"

"I can't. My husband knows that I'm home. If I don't answer the phone, he'll come home to see what's wrong."

"Okay, answer it. But, no funny stuff," he once again warned as she walked over to the phone.

"Hello?" She answered in a shaky voice.

"Mrs. Danko, this is Lt. Ryker. Gillis called and said he thought you were in trouble. Is Sanchez there with you?"

"Hi sweetheart," she forced a smile. "Please tell me you're not going to be late today. I was hoping that you could take me out to dinner."

"I've got units on the way. Just hang tight we get there."

"I love you, too. Bye," she said as she ended the call.

On his end, Ryker got off of the phone and walked out to the dispatcher's office. "Older, where's Danko?"

"I don't know. I imagine that he's out in the field," the sergeant answered.

"I want you to send all available units to his apartment complex. But, I want you to get him back here. I also want you to notify the SWAT team."

"Sanchez is holding Danko's wife hostage?"

"It sounds that way. Get on the horn now!"

In his car, Mike knew that something was wrong when Older dispatched him and ordered him to go to another channel. He was then told to report back to the precinct to see Lt. Ryker immediately.

When Mike walked in the front door of the precinct, Ryker was waiting for him, hat placed firmly on his head. "About 20 minutes ago, Gillis called and said that he thought something was going on with Jill. I called your apartment a few minutes ago and her answers to my questions told me that Sanchez is there with her."

"Is she okay?"

"She sounded okay, but we need to get over there. I've already ordered SWAT over there."

"SWAT?" Mike looked at his boss in confusion.

"Danko, I'll explain everything on the way. We need to get over there before he decides to kill her."

1:30 P.M.

Sanchez was still pacing the apartment, waving his gun as Jill watched him. He was even more pissed now that he knew the cops were downstairs. Not only regular cops, but a special tactical team who were trained to end hostage situations.

"She talked about you a lot," he sat down in an armchair and looked at her. "Don't you want to know what she said?"

"Does it matter?" Jill asked wearily. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was lay down and close her eyes.

"It was non-stop," he got back up and resumed his pacing. "It was always 'Jill said this,' or 'Jill did this.' I got sick of it! Did you ever talk about Christina to Officer Mike?"

"Yeah," she stared at him defiantly. "I told him that you were beating the shit out of her."

"I never did anything to Christina that she didn't deserve! You women's libbers are all alike. You want to wear the pants. My mother never worked outside of the house. Her job was to take care of us kids and have dinner on the table when my father came home from work. If dinner was five minutes late, she paid the price."

Jill didn't say anything. What was the point? He wouldn't agree with anything she had to say, anyway. She jumped when the phone rang. He waved his gun for her to answer it. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Danko," an unfamiliar voice came over the line, "I'm Lt. Daniels with the SWAT team. Can I please talk to Sanchez?"

"He wants to talk to you," Jill held out the receiver.

"What?" Sanchez snarled when he answered the phone.

"Mr. Sanchez, this is Lt. Daniels with the SCPD SWAT team. We want to end this peacefully. Please let Mrs. Danko go and give yourself up."

"Are you going to shoot tear gas in here if I refuse?"

"We don't want to do that."

"I've seen the end of what you guys do on the news. You send tear gas in and then you shoot anybody left standing."

"We don't want to do that," Daniels repeated. "Why don't we talk about this?"

"I killed six people," Sanchez said. "What's left to talk about?"

With that, he hung up the phone. Daniels hung up the field phone and looked at the cops circled around him. "He's refusing to give up. But, your wife sounds okay," he looked at Mike.

"How can you say that? She's being held hostage! How is anything about that okay?" Mike roared.

"All I'm saying, Officer Danko, is he hasn't hurt her. And, I don't think he will as long as we don't go rushing in there."

"Well, I don't agree."

"Officer Danko, I've been doing this for a while now. The first thing you need to do is relax. Let us do our job and we'll get both your wife and Sanchez out of there without injury. You need to talk to your man, Eddie."

"Danko, Daniels is right," Ryker pulled Mike off to one side. "Sanchez is angry, but so far he hasn't hurt Jill. Let Daniels do his job. Take a walk and calm down."

Mike clenched his teeth as he stalked off. He made his way over to the pool area where he could glance up at the second floor balcony of their apartment. He wished that there was a way for him to scale up there like Spiderman. Jill had to be beyond terrified right now. Her biggest fear had been Sanchez coming after her and now it was happening. "She told me that you kind of came in on your white horse and rescued her," he turned to find Terry and Willie standing next to him, Willie still in his street clothes.

"Yeah, I really wish that I had my white horse right now."

"Mike, that SWAT guy is the best," Willie pointed out. "They're going to get her out."

"I wish everybody would stop telling me that. I know that they say they're going to get her out, but what if they don't? I fought so hard to get her to come back to me," he looked at them with tears in his eyes. "I fought too hard to lose her now."

"You're not going to lose her."

"How does anybody know that?" Mike shouted as Willie motioned upwards with his head. Mike looked up to see Sanchez staring down at them with the gun in his hand.

Upstairs in the apartment, Sanchez turned toward Jill. "When that cop calls again, tell him that your old man had better back the fuck up! Because if he comes bursting in here with his buddies like the Lone Ranger and Tonto, I'm going to put a bullet through your brain!"

"Bobby, please give up," Jill said as tears clogged her voice. "Give up and let me go. I want to be with Mike. I need to be with Mike."

"Well, you should've thought about that before you told Christina to leave me," he got close to her as he waved the gun menacingly in front of her. "Did it ever occur to you that I also loved my wife? Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted to be with her?"

Jill rubbed her face wearily before looking down at her left hand. Her wedding ring glimmered brightly. It was the most tangible connection that she had to Mike. She thought back to the afternoon when he'd asked her to marry him. He'd been so nervous, so afraid that she would say no.

Her thoughts drifted along that vein for the rest of the afternoon. Those thoughts seemed to be the only thing that kept her going. As the afternoon wore on, she soon became convinced that this wasn't going to end well. As the day wore on, Bobby Sanchez became angrier and more unpredictable. She began to pray that the police would burst in just to put an end to this. If it meant that she died when it happened, at least she'd die knowing that Mike truly loved her.

8:27 P.M.

It ended so quickly that Jill didn't know what to think. One minute Sanchez was on the phone speaking Spanish to his mother and the next she heard thunderous footsteps on the stairs, followed by the door flying open and a gunshot. The next minute she was being cradled in Mike's arms as the police surrounded Sanchez' body, which was lying by the sliding glass door.

"Are you okay?" He asked her as she tried to see what was going on. "No, baby. Don't look over there. Are you okay?" He asked her again as she burst into deep, gulping sobs. "You're okay. It's over now. You're safe now."

"Danko," Mike turned to find Ryker standing behind them. "Get her out of here while we take care of the crime scene. Gillis has said you can bring her over to his apartment."

"Come on, baby," Mike helped her to her feet as he led her from the apartment as she tried to once again look at Sanchez lying on the floor. "Could someone please cover him up?"

"Danko, we'll take care of it. Get her out of here," Ryker repeated.

Willie unlocked the door as Mike led her inside. "Can I get her some water or something?" He asked as Mike walked her over to the sofa.

"Yeah. Uh, can you keep an eye on Jill for a second? I need to get something from the apartment," Mike rushed out before Willie could say anything.

"Jill, do you want some water?" Willie asked as Jill nodded.

"Do you have something sweeter? I haven't eaten all day and I'm feeling a little faint."

"How about some orange juice?" Willie offered as Jill once again nodded.

Mike came back into the apartment seconds later holding a pill bottle as Jill made a face. "You really need to sleep," he knelt down in front of her. "Ryker said that we can probably go back to the apartment in a couple of hours."

"Are you going to go and change clothes?"

"I'm not going anywhere tonight. Come on and take this," he urged her as she finally accepted the pill, washing it down with orange juice.

When Terry walked into the apartment, Jill was asleep on the sofa as Mike sat in an armchair watching her. "How is she?" Terry asked, closing the door behind him.

"I gave her one of her sleeping pills. Now that Sanchez is no longer a threat, maybe she'll sleep. I'm just waiting for the M.E. to release our apartment and we'll be out of your hair."

"I'm not worried. Do you want a beer?" Terry asked as Mike nodded. "Where's William?"

"He went to bed about half an hour ago. He offered to stay up, but I told him to go. Did he say how he knew that she was in trouble?"

"I asked him," Terry smiled. "He said that when he came over, she told him that she wasn't in the mood to listen to stories of his and your exploits in Vietnam. Since he never served, he knew she was asking for help."

"I owe him big time for thinking fast," he sighed as he drank his beer. "So, she told you that I 'rescued' her?"

"Something like that," Terry came over and sat down. "From the way it sounded, she needed rescuing."

"Yeah, she did," he drained his beer and walked over to the trash can and tossed the can inside.

"Mike, when I was talking to Jill the other day, she asked me if you'd say anything about being angry that she went to Tina's house that day. I told her that if you were, you didn't say anything to me. I'm not quite sure that she believed me."

"A few days before it happened, Jill told me that she planned on going over there. I told her that I didn't want her going over there. I said that if she had to, she was to tell Tina that I forbade it. That was language that Tina understood."

"I don't see how a woman could let herself be controlled like that," Terry sighed as he went to get another beer.

"Some women don't have a choice," Mike said as he glanced over at Jill. "I need to get her home."

"I'll give you a hand," Terry smiled as he went to open the door as Mike lifted Jill into his arms.

When Jill woke up, it was pitch dark, but she could tell that she was in hers' and Mike's bed. She felt Mike's hand resting lightly on her hip as he slept beside her. She was still so sleepy that her head was spinning, but she wondered how she'd gotten into bed. The last thing she remembered was taking the sleeping pill that Mike had given her while waiting for the police to finish with Sanchez' body.

Mike felt her stirring slightly as he sleepily opened his eyes and wrapped one arm around her, drawing her closer into his body. "I didn't mean to wake you," she apologized.

"You didn't," he mumbled sleepily. "Are you okay?"

"I'm a little thirsty and a lot confused."

"Hold on and I'll get you some water," he got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom where he filled a glass with tap water. "What're you confused about?"

"How did I get here?" She asked when he brought her the water. "I don't rate cold water?"

"Of course you do," he smiled. "I'll be right back." He left the room, returning moments later with a tall glass of ice water. She smiled gratefully as he handed it to her. "I carried you home at around midnight."

"Really? How's your back?" She teased as she quickly drained the water glass and held it out to him.

"It'll heal," he set the glass on the night stand and got back under the covers, pulling her to his chest.

"Mike?" She whispered against his chest.

"Hmmm?" He asked, lazily stroking her back.

"Why did they come busting in like that? Why did they wait until that particular moment?"

"I'll explain everything to you tomorrow. It's late and we both need our sleep."

"No, I want you to tell me now," she sat up and pulled the sheet up to her chest, glaring at her husband defiantly.

"His mother told him to kill you," he told her as her eyes grew wide. "Both Terry and I heard her say it."

"So, is our carpet a bloody mess?"

"It's not too bad. Daniels knew somebody who cleans up stuff like that. The carpet's still a little damp, but it should be dry by tomorrow. I shouldn't have left you alone," he brushed her hair off her shoulders.

"You can't be there all of the time," she yawned.

"Go back to sleep," he pulled her back down to his chest as he pulled the covers over her.

As he heard her breathing even out, he tightened his arms around her, grateful that he hadn't lost her.

Jill slept off and on for most of the next day, which Mike was thankful for. It had been weeks since she'd slept for more than a couple of hours at a stretch. They spent most of the morning in bed sleeping before Mike got up and puttered around the apartment.

Jill got up and tried to engage in conversation with him, but her body felt as if it had been dipped in cement. She finally curled up on the end of the sofa and fell asleep once again. Mike sat down in the armchair and watched her. He then glanced over to the area by the sliding glass door where Sanchez' body had been lying just the night before. Thanks to Daniels friend, there was no trace that anything had happened.

He glanced at his watch and then at Jill. He hated to wake her up, but he wanted to go to bed and he wanted her in bed beside him. He walked over and gently shook her shoulder. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "I was just having the nicest dream," she reached for him.

"Was I in it?" He asked as their lips met, sharing a tender kiss.

"Hmmm," she stroked his face as he kissed her palm.

"You can tell me about it in bed."

"What time is it?" She asked as she sat up.

"Almost 11," he said.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because," he kissed her once again, "you needed to sleep."

"Can we fool around?"

"Baby, you need to sleep."

"Mike, I might be sleepy, but I'm not dead," she said as he threw back his head and laughed.

"Come on, let's go to bed," he took her hand and led her back to their bedroom.

Jill took her gown from her dresser drawer and went into the bathroom. After cleaning up and brushing her teeth she came back into the bedroom. "I'm going to take a quick shower," Mike kissed her lightly before disappearing into the bathroom.

Jill pulled the covers back on the bed and got under them, sleepily cuddling up to Mike's pillow as she waited for him to come to bed. As she laid there, her thoughts once again returned to some of the things she'd thought about the day before. She smiled as she remembered the first time he'd ever made love to her. She didn't think it was possible for anyone's heart to beat as fast as hers did that night. The way that his hands had felt was forever branded into her memory. It had been like that every time since. Every time he touched her it felt as if he was engraving her to memory. "What're you thinking about?" She smiled as she felt Mike get into bed next to her. "You looked like you were a million miles away."

"Oh, I was thinking about you," she moved closer to him. "You're all that I ever think about."

"Do you want to share just what it was that you were thinking about regarding me?" He slipped his arms around her and pulled her tighter to his chest.

"I was thinking about the first time we ever made love," she bit her lip shyly as he smiled at her.

"You were so shy," he remembered as he kissed her, letting his tongue trace her lips.

"I was terrified," she admitted as he drew back a little.

"Of me?"

"No. I was scared that you were going to be disappointed."

"That wasn't even a possibility."

"I love you so very much," she traced his jaw with her fingertips. "I was so scared yesterday that I was never going to get to tell you that again."

"Me, too. But, I thought that you wanted to fool around," he grinned at her, trying to break her sudden maudlin mood.

"I always want to fool around."

He nuzzled her neck, breathing in the warm scent of her. He loved the way that she sucked in her breath when he moved her hair off of her shoulder to kiss her neck. To him, it was one of the sexiest sounds in the world. He remembered a time when she wouldn't make a sound at all when they were intimate. He could also remember a time when she'd rather die than admit that she wanted him. It was just something that a so-called properly brought up Southern girl just didn't do. He knew how much her past still impacted her present. It was as if the two parts of her were constantly at war with each other.

"You taste wonderful," he smiled as he kissed her.

"I probably taste like toothpaste," she grinned back as she touched his face, loving the way that his beard stubble felt under her fingers.

"I should've shaved," he made a face as he pulled her hands off of his face.

"I like the way your face feels when you haven't shaved. It's sexy."

"I love you so much, Mrs. Danko," he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him.

His eyes were burning into hers so intently that Jill felt the need to look away from him. That look always made her feel so shy. That burning look was the look he'd given her that first night that they were together. "I wish that you wouldn't look at me like that."

"Like what?" His whispered words were a caress in her ear.

"You know like what. Like you're a lion and I'm prey."

He started laughing as he planted kisses all over her face before catching her lips with his, his tongue exploring her mouth, forcing her to follow suit. "I think you told me that once before," he reminded her as they came up for air.

"Did anybody ever tell you that you're a great kisser?" She smiled.

"Really? Would you like to know what else I'm good at?" He bantered back as she blushed a deep scarlet. "I can't believe that I can still make you blush! How did you know that I was going to tell you that I was good at that? I do have many other talents, you know?"

"I don't want to talk anymore," she said as she took his hand and placed it on her breast, instantly feeling her nipple harden under his palm.

"Why don't you sit up for a second while I help you get rid of this?" He tugged on her gown as she sat up.

He pulled the offending garment over her head, tossing it toward the foot of the bed. She sighed blissfully when he laid her back down and once again kissed her neck before making his way south. He smiled at her groan when he encased her nipple in his mouth, lightly swirling his tongue over it as it got harder. She wrapped her hands tightly in his hair, holding him to her breast as he suckled on first one and then the other, making her writhe at the intense sensation. She squeezed her thighs together, gasping at the intense need that was building up. She wanted for Mike to touch her, anything to quell the ache that she was feeling.

She squirmed when Mike left her breasts, kissing his way further down her body, stopping at her hipbone. He caressed her breasts as he looked up at her from his vantage spot at her hip. Her eyes were closed and her breath was coming out in soft pants as he continued teasing her breasts. He planted a soft kiss on her stomach as she opened her eyes and looked down her body at him. "I love you," she whispered as she stroked his hair.

"I love you, too," he smiled back up at her, his eyes the brilliant blue-green that she'd always loved.

He hooked his fingers into the elastic waistband of her panties and pulled them down her legs as she lifted her hips up off of the bed to assist him. Her breath sped up in anticipation was she waited for his touch. Instead of touching her, he stood up and yanked his t-shirt over his head before removing his boxers as his erection instantly sprang free. She loved that he was so aroused when she hadn't done more than kiss him. She reached for his hand, pulling him back into bed with her. "Please touch me," she whispered as she kissed his neck.

"I think it's so damn sexy when you ask me to touch you," he kissed her as he nudged her legs apart, groaning out loud as he felt how wet she was. "Baby, you feel so good right now."

She didn't have a response as she delighted in the feel of his fingers exploring and stroking her. She could feel the hard heat of him pressing against her as he continued touching her. He groaned when she reached down and brushed her thumb over him before she decided to get a little bolder by circling her hand around him and slowly stroking the way she knew that he liked.

Mike stopped touching her when he felt her wrap her hand around him. He rolled over onto his back and pulled her close to his chest as she continued sliding her hand up and down his very erect penis, enjoying the effect that she was having on him. He slipped his hand around her neck and pulled her toward him, kissing her deeply as she continued touching him. As much as he loved what she was doing to him, he also knew that if he didn't stop her, things would come to an abrupt end. No amount of counting or memorizing capitals was going to stop the inevitable this time. "Baby, stop," he mumbled into her mouth. "I'm going to come."

"So, I'll change the sheets," she grinned devilishly as she continued lightly touching him, feeling him twitch under her fingers.

"I really want to be inside of you," he slipped his hand back up between her legs as she whimpered out loud.

He rolled her over so that he wasn't quite lying on top of her. He kissed his way down her body and back up before settling himself between her legs. She moaned with desire as he took his time teasing her before slowly entering her. She cried out as she felt him filling her, her every nerve ending feeling highly sensitized by their long foreplay. "You feel so good," she wrapped her arms and legs around him as she moved with him.

"So do you," he kissed her as he varied his strokes, sometimes going slow and deep and at other times fast and shallow.

Jill could feel that familiar tension beginning to coil from somewhere deep inside of her body. The first time she'd ever felt it, she'd been shocked by the violent intensity of it. But, since that first time, she'd welcomed that feeling. That feeling that she was going to explode from the inside out. She buried her face into Mike's shoulder as she clung to him tighter. She wasn't ready to come just yet. This whole evening had been so mind-blowing that she wanted to share it with Mike.

Sweat was beginning to pour off of Mike as he continued thrusting into her. He had sensed moments before that Jill had been close to orgasm, but now he felt as if she was holding back, but he wasn't sure why. He was also incredibly close, but he wanted her to be satisfied, too. "Come for me, baby," he growled as he stopped moving inside of her.

"I wanted to wait for you," she panted as he grinned.

"Why didn't you say so?" He kissed her as he reached between her legs and touched her, absorbing her cry of passion with his mouth.

The minute that he felt her muscles clamp down around him, he groaned loudly and came deep inside of her. He collapsed onto her shoulder, too spent to move a muscle. "One day I think you're going to kill me," his breath was heaving as he lay against her shoulder.

"But, what a way to go," she teased as he raised his head and kissed her, softly and gently. She sighed in disappointment as she felt him soften and slip out of her.

"You can ask me to fool around anytime," he smoothed her hair from her face as he kissed her once again.

"Don't move," she tried to hold onto him when he tried to move over next to her.

"Baby, I'm hot and sweaty, not to mention I must weigh a ton."

"But, I like that part. It makes feel . . . I don't know. Protected, I guess."

"I will always protect you," he vowed.

"I know. So, are you going to make me go to sleep now?"

"That's up to you. But, you know that as a man, I have to go to sleep now. It's some sort of unwritten law."

"It has to do with hormones," she told him as she stroked his chest. "I was just wondering something."

"What's that?"

"How do you feel about a second round?" She grinned at him with a mad twinkle in her eye.

"Oh my God, I think I've created a monster," he pulled her into his arms as his hands once again began blazing a trail down her body.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimers: I don't own 'The Rookies' and I never will.**

**Summary: Jill comes up with a unique way of thanking Willie for saving her life.**

**This is the last chapter. Reviews make me very happy and I'd love to hear what people think. Too much? Not enough? Don't give up my day job? Just let me know.**

Chapter 11

In the music room at the elder Danko's home, Jill was sitting beside her husband at the piano bench, entranced by what she was hearing. Although Mike had warned her that he was rusty, she just didn't hear that. She thought that he played beautifully.

They had arrived at his parents' home earlier in the afternoon. Willie and Terry were supposed to come over at around five for dinner. It had been Mrs. Danko's idea. She'd called Jill a few days before asking if her and Mike would like to join them for dinner. Jill had agreed, but had asked if it was all right to also invite Mike's friends. After all, without Willie's help, it was almost a certainty that Sanchez would've killed her.

"You're not rusty, at all," she smiled at him when he finished playing. "That was wonderful."

"Thank you," he kissed her. "We'd better get back upstairs."

"Why didn't you tell me that you played?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "Would you like to go out to the garden?"

"We should visit first," she took his hand as they got up to prepare to go upstairs.

"Before we go upstairs, I need to say something," he tugged on her hand as she looked at him. "I understand that you thought that I was angry at you for going to Tina's house. Babe, I was never angry. I understand why you went over there. When I learned that you were there, I was scared that I was going to lose you."

"I just wish that I'd told you that I was going to go over there, anyway. I didn't mean to defy you," she hung her head down.

"Jill," he lifted her chin up to meet his gaze, "I'm not Cleve. I'm not going to beat you senseless just because you go against what I want. I might not like some of your decisions, just as I'm sure that you don't like some of mine. But, I also realize that you're a grown woman who has a mind of her own."

"We'd better get upstairs before your parents wonder what's keeping us," she hugged him tightly before he took her hand and led her back up the stairs.

They were chatting with Mike's parents' when they heard the doorbell chime. Minutes later, Jean was leading Willie and Terry into the room. Both men looked very nice in dress slacks and jackets. Mike had told them that they didn't have to wear ties, although he was wearing one. They shook hands with the Danko's as Jean took their orders for drinks. "So, I understand that you were responsible for saving my daughter-in-law's life," Mr. Danko looked at Willie, who looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"Well, not exactly, sir. I mean, I wasn't the one who burst through the door and saved her. I just knew that something was wrong and called my superior."

"So, how did you know something was wrong?" Mr. Danko pressed.

"Because I never served in Vietnam. I was in school at the time."

"Willie came to the apartment. I had to get rid of him," Jill explained, getting Willie off of the hook. "So, I told him that I really didn't want to hear more stories of him and Mike's adventures in Vietnam. I was really worried that he wouldn't get it."

"I didn't, for about a second," Willie admitted. "But, then it clicked."

"I'm just glad that it's all over," Mr. Danko said as he glanced at Jill. "You look much better since you've gotten some sleep."

"I feel better, and it's nice to have life return back to normal," Jill smiled at Mike.

After dinner, Jill showed the guys the garden as Mike hung back. "Michael, you do know that I still feel that you could've done better," Mike almost groaned at his father's words. "But, she seems to make you happy and if that's important to you, then it's important to your mother and me."

"Thanks, Pop. I know that you don't approve of some of her past choices, but the operative words are they're in her past."

Out in the garden, Jill and Willie were taking turns throwing a bedraggled stuffed rabbit to Babette, who couldn't seem to get enough of retrieving the toy and racing around the yard before bringing it back. "Jill, you didn't have to do all of this for me," Willie told her as she looked at him.

"Willie, you helped to save my life. I felt like I owed you something."

"Jill, we're family, aren't we?" He asked as she seemed to contemplate the information. "Families are supposed to help each other."

Jill hadn't thought of Willie and Terry as being hers' and Mike's family before. But, she guessed that he was right. They definitely watched out for her and Mike like family. And, in many ways, they were better than her birth family. She decided that she like this new family very much.

THE END


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